Knight of the Void
by sagitarius
Summary: Louise asked for a sacred, beautiful and strong familiar, hoping to summon a dragon, or a manticore, or perhaps a gryphon. She didn't get any of those, but the silver haired teen she summoned was a lot closer to what she asked for. Potentially, of course. Not that she knows it yet. ZnT and MGQ crossover.
1. Prologue

Take note that the crossover herein is a rather famous (or infamous, depending on whom you ask) eroge; and while there won't be any outright explicit material (or at least, none that I have planned thus far), there will be quite a few allusions here and there.

Zero no Tsukaima was originally written by the late Noboru Yamaguchi. Monmusu quest belongs to Torotoro Resistance. I do not make any profit in writing this story.

**Prologue: A brief introduction**

The silver haired boy backpedalled as his violet haired instructor came down on him with a barrage of punches and kick and elbows and knees; all moving at speeds only a trained eye could keep track of. Despite his tiredness and the clear absence of effort from his teacher, the teen kept his head cool.

_"It's still not exactly serenity, but I am impressed by your calmness,"_ he heard a female voice in his head, nearly receiving a palm strike to the gut for his distraction. With a grunt of effort, the young man gave himself to the wind and pushed off the ground hard, gaining some distance between him and his teacher.

_"Though I appreciate the compliment, could you please hold it until this spar is over?"_ he requested mentally, using the short respite to catch his breath. The purple haired woman standing from across the earthen field smiled at him, her arms crossing under her sizeable bust. Unlike the boy, who remained in a fighting stance, her posture was relaxed, allowing her dark blue cloak to rest on her shoulders.

"What's the matter little prince?" she asked in a teasing singsong voice, her mouth spread into a wide smirk that hid none of her amusement. "Don't tell me that's all you have. Or were you perhaps distracted?" she hummed at the end, leaning forward and showcasing even more of her ample cleavage.

The silver haired boy only grimaced, not even taking notice of the obvious distraction. "How many times must I ask this of you sensei?" he said, his tone aggravated, "only women can succeed my mother, there is no point in calling me a prince."

The youth's instructor laughed gently in response, one hand coming to half-heartedly cover the sign of her delight. "See now Lexi-boy, this is why you can't even pass Undine's and Salamander's tests. You're just too uptight whenever you're in a fight," she pointed out, slipping back into a battle ready stance. "You need to loosen up. The four elements must be free: the wind to move, the earth to breathe, the water to flow and fire to dance."

_"Heh… hear that? There wasn't a 'the' when she mentioned fire,"_ the same voice taunted from within the boy's mind.

_"Feh,"_ another feminine voice snorted, _"that just goes to show how special it compared to the other elements,"_ it bit back triumphantly.

From there, an argument began to rage in his head amongst voices not his own as a third more childish voice joined in. 'Lexi' ignored it -or tried to, at least- in favor of giving the purple haired woman an inquisitive look. "That's… awfully philosophical of you… sensei," he told her hesitantly, "are you feeling ill, by any chance?"

She blinked at him, her eyes coming wide afterwards, only for them to crinkle as her lips formed into an amused smile. "You don't need to worry about me, little prince," she told him, laughing at both his concern and reaction, "I just heard that line from Tamamo a few days ago and thought that it was appropriate to say."

She laughed again, her hand coming up in a false attempt to cover her humor, even as her apprentice fumed. "Now now… no need for that. Let's get back to your training, hmm?" she asked him, her body tensing just the slightest bit.

Her young ward huffed, but nodded his assent, finding little use in arguing with the woman and knowing he'd get even less results should he do so. He took a deep breath, calming his mind and preparing himself for another round of being his instructor's punching bag as the battle started anew.

Limbs flew at the teen, flying at the speed of gale-force winds as he weaved between them, looking for any chance to launch a counterattack and take the offensive. Yet despite his effort, every route was blocked before he could capitalize on them.

A punch to the left of her stomach was stopped by a spinning backhand that he was forced to duck. The follow up elbow strike diverted by a rising knee as she twisted out of the way, grabbing her students arm and pulling him along with her. She stopped when he lost his balance and reversed her motion, slamming him onto the ground before jumping to avoid a kick aimed at her thigh when the silver haired teen flipped into a prone position.

He pushed his feet off the flattened earth, drawing them towards his chest while raising his body and mule kicked his instructor's airborne form. The purple haired woman merely smirked, pushing the oncoming limbs below her descending body; her legs in a perfect split. She wedged her hands between his ankles and them apart to the width of her shoulders, just in time for her to land hands first.

Her fingers dug into the earth; enough to gain a grip with getting any dirt in her nails and swung her body backwards, her legs closing together so that her entire body was perpendicular to the ground; her hair, which was as long as she was tall, somehow floating inches above the surface. Her pupil took this time to flip himself over once more, using his hands to keep him in a seated position with both legs bent; his right lying on the ground and the other ready to kick the back of the purple haired woman's head.

The moment he went for the attack was the same moment she launched herself into the air a second time. Unable to react on time, the royal youth fought the urge to curse as his instructor grabbed onto the limb before arching over him. She somehow managed to keep his ankle in her grips until she landed, her feet just inches from his head, on the same side as his seized appendage. Knowing it was futile but unwilling to give up; he tried to kick her forearm with his right.

The woman in blue snorted in amusement, throwing the leg in her hands aside with a strength no one would expect her to possess from her frame alone. It was enough to force the silver haired teen to his side, and combined with his instructors spin, had caused his kick to miss.

No other action was possible thereafter as he felt her leather clad leg right below the back of his head. Her right hand came down to clasp his silver haired scalp in place as she crouched, clamping his neck in the arch between her foot and shin. All it would take was a simple tug and she could snap his neck.

"Your skill in the art of the wind has improved," the purple haired woman complimented, smiling down at him, not even paying heed to the glare she received in return. "Not quite as fast as a powerful gale yet, but that you've at least managed a speed that matches that of a strong wind just one month after earning the spirits' approval is an accomplishment in itself."

The teen maintained the best glare he could from that position for a few seconds, only for it to melt away into a smirk. "My teacher in martial arts is someone who's mastered the art of the wind," he said, matter-of-factly, "It should only make sense that it is the art I'm most advanced in."

The purple haired woman's smile widened before she started laughing, releasing her pupil from the lethal hold. "Now now Lexi-boy," she chided, "while I appreciate the flattery, you have to remember: I'm already married. My kind might be the most promiscuous race that exists and I may still be flirtatious, but that doesn't mean that I would cheat on my husband."

Her teasing words had just the effect she was looking for, evident from her student's flustered face, a fact he tried (unsuccessfully) to hide from her as he got back up onto his feet. "I… its Alexander, sensei. Please stop calling me that," he stuttered out his defense. "And I'm not the kind of person that would try to take another man's wife. Especially when they're one of my father's."

The purple haired woman laughed again as she turned around and began walking away. "I know," she told him. "You're too much like your father to do something like that. But enough of this. We'll begin training again same time tomorrow," she instructed, before disappearing from sight.

"Yes, sensei," Alexander replied to no one while beginning to pull himself up. He only managed to accomplish it half way before freezing as something odd came to his attention. _"The wind is… still?"_ he questioned himself, just now taking notice of the unnatural phenomenon. The wind was never still, especially not outdoors. It can become so gentle as to seem still for most people, but for those like him who were blessed with Sylph's power…

_"I beg of you…"_ a gentle voice called out to him, one he'd never heard before, accompanied by a pulse of energy.

The silver haired teen darted upright, his head turning left to right, trying to find the source of the disturbance. The three voices from earlier returned, this time making their own concerns known to him.

_"My servant who lives somewhere in the universe!"_

More words from everywhere and nowhere at once. The pulse from before came back stronger, and the wind began to stir. _"This wind…"_ one of the voices in his head uttered with a hint of terror, _"this wind isn't normal. It's… I've never even felt anything like this before."_

_"Oh sacred, beautiful and strong familiar spirit!"_

That same voice kept coming, the power it carried becoming stronger and stronger with each word. It no longer came in small pulses, but in a rhythmic beats.

_"I desire and here I plead from my heart!"_

The tempo hastened as the power intensified, coalescing into a single point. And it was right next to him.

Alexander was by no means a fool. He was someone who aspired to be a hero like his father. Even though his father did make many bad decisions, he still had the common sense and instinct to get himself out of every bad situation he'd ever been in. The same could be said about Alex.

Yet, despite how not just his instinct, but the three voices in his head as well were telling him to run and get help, he simply couldn't. It was as though the half of his mind that told him to get away was being fought back by something that told him to stay. To see for himself what was going on around him.

_"Answer to my guidance!"_

With the final shout, the spell was complete. The rhythmic beating of power reached a crescendo, coalescing into a swirling green light in front of him. A portal. To where, he wasn't sure, but a part of him wanted to find out. Another part, his rational side, told him not to, and fought the other for control, leaving him to just stand there, his hand reaching out towards it.

"Onii-san!" someone gasped from behind him, breaking him out of his reverie and making him turn around.

This seemed to be when the magic that held the portal grew agitated, and without warning, Alexander was dragged into the mass of green light. The last thing he'd seen of his own world was a girl his age with purplish blue skin, golden eyes, violet hair, and the lower body of a snake. His twin sister.

"Alice!" he managed to call out, his hand outstretched to grab her own. But by the time she reached him, it was too late. He was already dragged into oblivion.


	2. Chapter 1

Again, I don't own ZnT or MGQ. Please enjoy the fic and leave your comments if you feel the need to. If you don't like it, kindly walk away now.

**Chapter I, Side A: The Summoning**

Darkness. That was all Alex could see as he continued to fall. Or was he rising? The silver haired teen couldn't quite tell. He felt no sensation pulling on his body. He could breathe, despite not feeling any air. He could see, yet there was no light. And all through this, he tried to calm himself.

He was no stranger to teleportation via portals. He preferred instantaneous teleportation, one of the two abilities he seemed to have gained from his mother. Still, for times when he needed to teleport to places he'd yet to be in before, he'd gone by portal. The sensation was normally unpleasant; like you were being tugged at breakneck speed from one point of your body, dragging the rest behind it.

This was nothing like any other portal he had ever gone through. The only dragging sensation was when the portal had sucked him in to be teleported… somewhere. From there, he'd simply continued floating in the nothingness, uncertain of how much time had gone pass.

Well… no, that wasn't entirely true. It was enough for one of the voices in his head to ask 'are we there yet' at least a dozen times, followed by the sound of a small fire and screaming, then of someone struggling in water, and finally of flesh meeting flesh… many, many times. It _wasn't_ enough for the voice to start up again. Still, that was only ten minutes at most, and it had started long after he'd fallen into the portal, so he still didn't have an accurate measure of time.

Of course, all things must come to an end. His impromptu trip was no exception, and soon, Alex found himself approaching a light; growing brighter and brighter by the second.

-X-

***BOOOM!***

Sad as it sounded, Louise had become accustomed to the explosions that accompanied -or resulted from- her spell casting. In point of fact, if she had somehow cast a spell without blowing something up she'd be concerned. That is to say, before the excitement finally caught up to her.

Such elation would have to wait for a later date though, as the smoke finally cleared to show her the one whom she had summoned. Her heart practically sank at the sight. Nowhere was it close to her dreams of a majestic dragon or a mighty manticore.

No. Instead, what she got was boy; one just a little taller than her with silver hair who was in the middle of a coughing fit, no doubt caused by the debris kicked up by the recent explosion. The clothes he wore were odd too. Even if she couldn't identify it they were definitely made of fine material, but were extremely worn and overly simplistic too. Certainly not the apparel one would expect from a noble.

_"The son of some well off merchant, most likely,"_ she thought, a conclusion apparently shared by her classmates. Already, she could hear the snickers and jeers of her peers. This was even worse than summoning something as tiny as a mouse. No one had ever summoned a mere commoner before. It was unheard of.

The mocking laughter of her most aggravating of rivals dragged her back to the truth of the situation. "This makes what you said last night worth it! I never would have guessed you'd summon a plebeian!" Kirche was laughing so hard that there were tears in her eyes.

"It was just a little screw-up!" snapped Louise, refusing to turn around until the tears forming at the edges of her eyes were dried.

"That's our Louise the Zero. She never fails to meet our expectations!" That remark sent the whole lot of them laughing near to tears and Louise -her face now clear of moisture- turned with an angry retort hot and ready on her tongue when the plebeian stopped the jeering himself by speaking.

"I'm guessing you're the one who brought me here," an accusing voice rang out in the clearing, coming from behind Louise. She turned back to face the silver haired teen who was now staring at her with narrowed eyes. "Who are you? Where am I? And why did you drag me here?" he demanded of her coldly.

Louise froze as she stared into his eyes, and her classmates only laughed louder. Under normal circumstances, she would've lashed out already; demanding the commoner to apologize for talking to a noble in such a way. But there was something about him that she could see in those glaring golden eyes that told her not to explode. No… it was like they _ordered_ her not to. As though they held some form of power over her, compelling her to answer him.

Slowly, ever so slowly, his form seemed to blur. The blue sky, green grass and the grey of Tristain Academy's walls shifted around him into pure darkness. Where once there was a silver haired boy standing just outside of her school, now there was a gigantic serpent floating in the darkness; its golden eyes set within silver sheened scales glaring down at her. Its body was coiled in on itself, daring her to do anything else before answering him.

"Ahem… Ms. Vallière, if you would continue." The sound of her teacher's voice broke the girl out of her trance. At first, the pink haired girl wanted to complain to the balding professor. But then she saw the look on his face. It was a look not unlike her mother's whenever a particularly unsavory noble such as count Mott visited their estate. A subtle glare of suspicion directed at silver haired teen.

The sight of it crumbled her protest. Begrudgingly, Louise turned back towards the one she had summoned. His expression was the same as before, but different as well. More intense, and exuding a sense of wariness as he stared her down. Yet for all that the tension between them seemed to have increased, she no longer saw a great snake where the youth stood.

The Vallière scion sucked in a calming breath and walked up to him, trying to ignore her anxiety. All she wanted to do was complete this ritual, go back to her room, go to sleep, and hopefully wake up to learn that this was all a dream. Yes, that must have been it. She was dreaming, and was so afraid of what she'd summoned that for a moment, her dream familiar turned into a golden eyed basilisk just waiting to devour her. She couldn't quite decide whether she preferred him looking the way he did now, or as a giant and very dangerous magical beast.

…

…

No, actually, she _did_ prefer the giant magical beast, but it didn't look like he'd change now. It was probably better to just get things over with and wake up to find herself kissing her pillow.

"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; grant your blessings upon this humble being, and make him my familiar."

At her final words, the teen's eyes widened, but before he could react she had already managed to reach up and grab him by the neck of his shirt. The pink haired girl grimaced at the touch of what was obviously sweat drenched clothing, but tapped her wand on his forehead nonetheless; an act that seemed to make him jump, but she held tight.

Grabbing the other side of his shirt with her wand hand, Louise stood on her toes and dragged him down, their lips meeting for a brief moment as she finished the familiar contract ritual. Then, she promptly pushed herself away from him, glaring straight into his confused eyes.

"You should count yourself lucky. That was a once in a lifetime opportunity for a commoner like you," she told him harshly, as she stepped away. The look on his face told her that she'd caught him flat-footed, though from the looks of it, she'd done so more with her words than actions.

The silver haired boy shook his head and glared heatedly at her. "Plebeian? Commoner?" he began questioningly. "I don't normally like throwing my name around, but do you not know who I am?" he asked her, his posture straightening. "My name is Alexander Fateburn, the ARRGH!"

Whatever else he was about to say was cut off by his own screaming as he clutched his left wrist. "Wha… what in Heinrich's name is this!?" Alexander shouted out, his eyes boring holes into his paining appendage. He was used to pain, but this was entirely too different from anything else he'd ever faced.

It was as though molten lead was being poured through his veins as markings began to form on his hand. The light caused by the ritual grew brighter and brighter as he was branded by runes. He could hear worried screaming in his head as the four that accompanied him shouted their concern.

Then, finally, as the branding finished, it became too much. His consciousness left him, overcome by pain.

-X-

**Chapter I, Side B: Repercussions**

Since the last decade and a half, it wasn't unusual for the training grounds outside the Monster Lord's castle to be filled with so many people; both humans and monsters. The presence of the current Monster Lord, Alicefeeze Fateburn XVI, or Alice for short, though uncommon, was not unheard of. The presence of some of the best witches, wizards and other forms of magic users and researchers all gathered into a single spot was definitely new.

"Your highness," one of the monsters present called out. The silver haired echidna, her face set in a frown as she stared at the middle of the training ground, turned her head to the side and was met by one of her knights.

"Tamamo," Alice replied, eyeing the nine tailed kitsune severely. "What have you found so far?" she questioned, her tone demanding an answer be given immediately.  
The child bodied blonde sighed in frustration. "Well, Alexander is alive, far as we can tell. Magical signature indicates the use of a portal type teleportation spell. And from your daughter's words, it was probably designed to bring its target towards the assigned destination whether they were willing or not."

Golden orbs narrowed further, her serpentine tail twisting into a predatory coil, raising the humanoid portion of her body higher as she leaned downwards, putting her face just inches away from the four hundred year old fox monster's own. "And just _where_ is the destination?" she growled out.

Unafraid, the blonde fox met her glare with a stern face. "We're still trying to discern that. However, judging from the sheer amount of power we've detected, as well as from how complicated it seems, the portal could've very well taken him anywhere. Possibly even beyond heaven."

**_"Meaning?"_**

"Some believe that he may have been taken to another dimension," Tamamo answered, her frown growing grimmer. "The possibility is very low, but dimensional travel isn't completely unheard of, rare as the cases may be."

The Monster Lord seethed, releasing a hiss that would send most normal people running at full speed. "Find. _My. __**Son.**_" She ordered, emphasizing every word. "Find out where he's been taken. Find out **_who_** took him. Bring my son back _alive!_ And drag whoever did this back with him so that I can _tear __**them. To! PIECES!**_"

Again, Tamamo remained visibly unaffected by the show of anger from the most powerful monster alive. If one were to look closely though, they would notice the beads of sweat beginning to run down her forehead. "It shall be done, your highness," she replied, nodding curtly before turning back towards the group of magic experts, leaving the queen of Hellgondo with only one other.

"You're being a little too harsh, don't you think?"

Alice turned around, now focusing her glare at the one who'd spoken: a purple haired man with matching eyes, clad in fine but simplistic armor, and carrying a grotesque blade on his hip. "Don't try to calm me down, Luka," she said, fire in her eyes.

Luka sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not," he retorted evenly, "I'm just saying that blowing up at everyone isn't going to help anyone. Alex is our son, and I want to find him as much as you do, but you're not doing anyone any favors by glaring at them every time they get close."

He met her gaze, unflinching as her glower intensified. Then, with a huff of finality, Alice turned away, arms crossing over her chest as she continued to survey the investigation. Her husband could only sigh in response, knowing that he wouldn't get anything better from her.

One thing was certain though. Luka may not have agreed with Alice's unnecessary rage towards her subordinates, but he shared the one she had for the instigator of this event. Alexander Fateburn, his only son despite the improbability stacked against it, had been taken away to who knows where.

The angel descendant knew well that his silver haired progeny could take care of himself. Alma Elma trained him how to fight, and regardless of how much she seemed to avert from actual combat, there was no mistaking her skills. Plus, Alex still had the four spirits with him. Sure, he could only use Sylph's and Gnome's powers for the moment, but that still made him formidable enough.

Despite that, Luka still worried. After all, what else could a father do in times like these?


	3. Chapter 2

For the third time, I own nothing but Alexander.

**Chapter II: The Familiar Prince**

When Alexander opened his eyes, he knew immediately that he wasn't truly awake. He didn't know who it was that had brought him to… wherever it was he'd been dragged to, nor _did_ he know where they would keep him. He did know that the sight before him definitely wouldn't be where he should have woken up.

The white walls covered in all but top and bottom by red wallpaper spanning ten and fifteen meters to his back and sides. The ornately carved marble pillars at the corners of the room. The mahogany doors with its golden knob and decorations. The king sized bed in front of him, standing on its opulently designed legs halfway into an arch in the wall; the mattress lying upon it covered in fine sheets and looking both comfortable and durable. And finally, the arch itself, decorated by gold framed windows that gave the perfect view of a silver sky with a black sun.

"Ah! Alex! You're here!" an excited voice cheered out from behind him. The silver haired teen turned around, aiming to greet the one who had spoken, only for his eyes to widen at the odd sight that met him.

Standing -or the equivalent, in two cases- in a row upon the violet carpeting of the room were five figures; all female.

The first, which Alex also knew to be the source of the earlier voice, was the smallest of them all, only about as tall as his head… as in, _only_ his head, not the rest of his body. The tiny girl had a petite figure that was hugged by her strapless one-piece, its light green color just a little darker than her almost white, back length hair. On her legs were knee high boots of a darker green which slowly bled into yellow as they went lower; a perfect match for the cloth gloves which nearly reached her shoulders.

On the opposite extreme of the gathering was a girl with pale brown skin and purplish brown hair. She stared back at Alex with her deep green eyes which seemed to have ripples in them. Her garb consisted of baggy clothing which hid the bottom of her face. It was reminiscent of an old mage's regalia in colors of sandy greens and browns and lined with golden trims. On her head was a hat in much the same pattern with two floppy horns ending in white puff balls.

Right beside her was a less human looking figure. In fact, it would've been easier to simply describe her as a mermaid; one whose bare body was composed entirely of water, bar her turquoise eyes. Strangely, the portion of her form which was her hair was colored a much deeper blue, like the deepest parts of the sea, as opposed to the rest of her light blue body. She looked at him with a calm expression, but from the way her eyes darted to the side, and the way the four fins on her tail flicked, Alex could tell that she was wary at the moment.

The fourth, standing on the other side of the middle figure, wore a similar expression on her visage. Like the aquatic woman, she too wore no clothing, exposing most of her slim form. Her skin was well tanned, which made sense given that her modesty was kept only by swathes of red and orange flames that matched the color of her eyes; the entirety of it originating from her hair.

These four, Alexander had no problem with. They were the ones who had helped his father during his journey twenty years ago. The ones who had helped the legendary hero, Heinrich defeat his tyrannous ancestor five centuries before his birth. The four elemental spirits: Sylph, Gnome, Undine and Salamander.

It was the fifth woman who was the source of Alex's confusion, and the two more battle hardened spirits' wariness. Standing at half a head taller than the silver haired teen, the blonde haired woman looked into his eyes with curiosity, not even minding the lengths of water that bound her limbs, or the flame that threatened to consume her. The pointed ears popping out of her neck length locks, combined with her forest green clothing presented one obvious conclusion: she was an elf. Of what kind, he wasn't sure, but she was definitely among the elven race.

"Who are you?" Alex demanded, meeting her probing eyes with a suspicious glare. "And more importantly, how did you manage to get into my mind?" he took a step back, adjusting into a fighting stance as his body tensed. Though the half monster teen normally wasn't so quick to resort to violence, a person invading his mind was unlikely to be anything else but hostile.

The elf only smirked at him. "You're an interesting one, aren't you?" she asked, completely ignoring his questions, much to Alex's chagrin. "Not only do you resist the Gandálfr runes' influence enough to force me to take form, you also have four spirits inside of you who are capable of preventing me from accessing most of your memories."

Alexander remained silent, staring intently at the blonde. She relented just about as much as him, her grey eyes staring into his, giving him the feeling that she was searching for something. Even Sylph seemed to read the tension in the air, choosing to remain silent as she hovered in the air; her head darting from Alex to the elf.  
The stare off lasted for what felt like an hour before the elfin woman snorted, crossing her arms as she looked to the side. "I am Sasha. Just as well, I am also Gandálfr. For now, that is all you need to know." Alexander's frown deepened at her answer, but could get no more from her as she turned her gaze back towards him. "You should be waking up now, should you not? Many things are still unclear to you, after all. And besides that, you'll not get any answers from me until you find some yourself in the waking world."

The silver haired teen let out a small growl, but eased his stance all the same. He looked over his shoulder, to observe the view beyond the windows: clear blue skies and the shining sun. A normal view, if he was awake, which meant that he was capable of regaining his consciousness in the outer world.

Alexander sighed, trying to relax himself as he addressed the two spirits standing on either side of the elf. "Undine, Salamander, I know that I haven't earned approval from either of you, but if possible…"

"We will help keep the elf from doing anything unsavory," the aquatic spirit, Undine nodded, giving the blonde another sideways glance.

"Someone who would invade another person's consciousness without consent isn't one to be trusted, so for our own safety as much as yours, we will watch her," Salamander followed up, glaring at Sasha, much like her blue counterpart.

Alexander nodded in thanks. "You have my gratitude," he told them, "Sylph, Gnome, please try to do similar," he asked of the two less experienced spirits and getting a nod in return from both. Satisfied, Alexander smiled and walked over to the window beside the bed. He threw it open, and looked downwards. Land and Sea met at the bottom of the castle.

Why it was, he didn't know, but Alexander's mind had always been modeled after his room back in the Monster Lord's castle; the only difference being the view outside. That came into a rough representation of the four elements. The sky was showcased the most, representing his affinity for wind. The lands below were the second biggest attraction, though not quite as grand as the majesty of the sky in its current state. The sea and sun, though both present, were least impressive of all. A given, considering he'd yet to even attempt the trial for either. That the two elemental spirits had decided to remain in him despite that was a miracle in itself.

Taking a deep breath -though he knew it served no purpose-Alexander jumped out of the room, letting himself fall.

-X-

The first thing the Alex noticed upon opening his eyes -his real eyes- was the dark brown of a wooden ceiling illuminated by firelight; excellent quality, from the looks of it. The second thing he noticed was that his back ached a bit and that whatever he was lying on was poking him in some places. Hay, he concluded. Not exactly the first time he'd slept in similar conditions, though there was sufficiently more cushioning during those times.

A quick feel of the wind told him that there was only one other person in the room with him, and whoever he or she was, was currently…

The silver haired boy shot up, slipping into a fighting stance as soon as he was upright. The other person, he recognized, was the same pink haired girl who had apparently brought him to wherever he was right now. She looked at him, pink eyes wide in shock, leaning back a little on her bed cautiously.

He examined her for a while as a tense silence fell upon the pair. From what little he saw earlier in the day, he was probably in some magic school. Which one, he didn't know; which was odd considering he'd seen all of them at one time or another in his life. Their uniforms all but confirmed that they weren't from the ancient ¬Ōkami School of Onmyōdō near Yamatai. However, they wore neither the signature black and silver hats of the Grangold Royal Magic Academy, nor the twin horned skullcaps of the Neo-Safaru University of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There was little need to even consider Avalon Academy in the island west of Safina or the Heinrich Institution in New Remina as neither of them had a castle, let alone the relatively infantile Arcana Academia in what was formerly Iliasburg. And of course, the less said about Succubus Village Witch's Private School, the better.

This all amounted to the simple fact of Alexander not only being unaware of where he was, but of who he was dealing with. The girl in front of him was a mage, certainly. But how dangerous was she?

"Where am I?" the silver haired teen finally asked, his voice demanding. This apparently did not sit well with the pinkette, whose wary frown turned into an infuriated grimace.

"You dare speak to a noble like that?" she asked back, getting up on her feet as she took a wand from her nightstand. Alexander tensed as she pointed the length of wood at him, getting ready to call upon Sylph's power. "Have you no sense of etiquette, foolish dog?" she question harshly, despite the slight tremor in her hand.

Alex couldn't quite help twitching in irritation. "_I_ have no sense of etiquette!?" he asked rhetorically, "_You_ sucked me into some portal that took me to The First only knows where right after my morning training, then _you kissed me_ from out of nowhere, and magically branded me with _this!_" he burst out, showing her the back of his left hand and the darkened inscription on it. "And I don't even know what the hell these _are!_"

That last one, most of all, was disconcerting. As the son of the reigning Monster Lord, Alexander had been schooled in at least the basics of all known forms of magic; if only in theory for a majority of them. At worst, he should have been able to identify what the purpose of those runes was. Instead, all he could tell about them was that the inscription was written in the oldest form of runes; far too advanced for him to read.

Banishing those thoughts, Alex focused back on the petite girl to find that his shouting seemed to have managed to scare her somewhat. That or it was menacing aura he tended to exude when angry; maybe both. Whatever the case, it made him somewhat guilty despite himself. Still, it didn't change the fact that he was angry, confused, and was possibly in hostile territory.

"Those are your familiar runes," the pink haired girl, who had recovered from the verbal jabbing, suddenly snapped back at the silver haired boy. "I summoned you here to Tristain Magic Academy when I tried the familiar summoning ritual, as such you are now my familiar," she told him, matter-of-factly.

Alexander blinked at that, her statement replaying itself over and over in his head until it fully registered into his brain. He remembered the rest of the events before his impromptu slumber. "Fa…miliar?" he said quietly, though still loud enough for the pink haired girl to nod in response. Hot, seething anger began to bubble within the silver haired teen. "You…" he seethed, "do you mean to tell me that you dragged me here and enslaved me!?" he shouted at her, his golden eyes burning with rage. Then, it just dropped, "What exactly do you hope to gain from this stupid kidnapping attempt?"

The pink haired girl backed up a bit more at the chillingly calm question, but the fury on her face was still clear. "You… insolent dog!" she screamed back with a burst of courage. "I was willing to forgive you the first two times but-!"

"Be _SILENT!_" Alexander cut her off, his eyes shining with a strange light. The pink haired girl went rigid, her eyes wide as she tried to speak, only to find her mouth, and indeed her entire body unmoving. The silver haired boy cared for none of it and simply continued scowling at the mage. "Let's try this again. You will answer my questions truthfully, with as much detail as possible: Where am I?"

"You are in my dorm room within the Tristain Magic Academy in the country of Tristain, three hours south by horseback from the capital of Tristainia," she answered back, her voice emotionless; a deep contrast to her shocked visage.

"And where exactly _is_ Tristain?"

"It is at the edge of the continent of Halkeginia's main landmass, bordered by Germania from the north to south east, Gallia to the south, and the Albanese Channel from south west to north," the pinkette replied in the same monotonous tone. The tremor in her eyes spoke differently though, showing the fear gripping at the pinkette's mind as she stared at Alexander.

The silver haired boy's frown grew at her answer. _"Halkeginia?"_ He wondered, appraising the mage. _"She can't lie as she is now, not when she's fully under my Eyes of Obedience. What's going on here?"_

"Who are you?" he continued with his interrogation, shaking off his mental tangent. _"If she's telling me this in her state, she must truly believe what she is saying. There's no point in trying to speak to her about my location."_

"Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, third daughter of the Duke and Duchess la Vallière, second year student of Tristain Magic Academy. Many people also call me Louise the Zero."

The angel descendant's brow furrowed at that last bit of information, but ultimately decided to just file it away. "Why was I brought here?" he asked her instead, much calmer now after finally getting some answers.

"I participated in the Springtime Summoning Ritual, as is mandatory for all students in Tristain upon promotion to the second year. You were the one who was summoned by me as a result."

The second brow on Alex's face joined its brother higher up on his head, only for them to dip down as his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Another flash of light came from his eyes, and the pink haired girl reeled back, crawling away from him with fear in her eyes.

"Wh… what was that?" she asked him, trembling with fright.

Alexander regarded her with a silent stare until her patience reached its limit. Then, just as she was about to make another outburst, he spoke. "It is a power passed down from my mother, Alicefeeze Fateburn XVI, current reigning Queen of Hellgondo." He had come to a very uncomfortable conclusion concerning his current predicament, and depending on this Louise's reaction, he would either be able to confirm or deny it.

The shock and horror were to be expected of anyone and told him nothing, but the hint of confusion on her visage spoke volumes, and he didn't like anything it said at all. Letting out an annoyed sigh, Alexander allowed his body to fall into a seated position on the floor. "Since we obviously got off on the wrong foot, I'm just going to ignore everything else that has happened until now. However, I still need to find out just what has happened to me in detail."

He stared into her eyes, gathering power into his own in preparation to use his monstrous power once more. "I'll give you a choice: either explain things to me on your own, and save me the trouble of wasting my energy to put you under compulsion again, or I can force you to tell me, and have you throw yourself out the window afterwards." His words were harsh, of that, Alexander was certain. Unfortunately, much as he wished otherwise, there were times when being kind wouldn't help you.

-X-

Alexander took a deep breath as he sat cross legged on the bed of hay; releasing it as a frustrated sigh. It had taken well over an hour of explaining before he'd learned enough to make his own conclusions about just what had happened. Well… no, actually, it only took about fifteen minutes to do the explaining. The first fifteen was spent with him proving to her that he was, indeed, of royal blood. The other thirty in between was spent with Louise going into a panic attack about abducting and enslaving a foreign prince and being sold off by her parents as a bargaining chip to prevent war. Right now, he just wanted to get the whole story straight.

"So to put simply, you-" he pointed to the now calmer Louise, "-are a recently promoted second year student here at Tristain magic academy," she nodded silently, "as per tradition, all of you second years performed a ritual to summon your familiars this morning, at which point, you ended up summoning me?" again she nodded without a word. "The kiss from earlier was done in order to seal the contract between familiar and master," nod, "and throughout all that, you never once knew who I was?" nod, "And besides that, you've also never once heard about Hellgondo, Sentora or Luscious?" nod.

Alexander groaned, falling onto his back. "This is going to keep getting worse before it gets any better, I can just feel it," he muttered with his hand on his forehead, nursing a headache that was threatening to erupt.

"Umm… beg pardon, your highness…" Louise called out to him cautiously. Alex made a gap between his fingers to look at her with one eye, his hand hiding the small frown on his visage. "I was wondering… you're royalty, so why are you wearing such ragged clothes?" she asked after a while, pointing at his Enrikan tunic.

"These are the clothes I wear when training with my martial arts instructor. The summoning occurred right after my daily training ended."

Louise blinked. "Martial arts?" she asked, unsure, "you mean like swordsmanship? Are you training to be a knight your highness?" she probed, her voice filled with curiosity.

Reigning in the pang of annoyance that struck him, Alex shook his head. "No, I train mostly in hand to hand combat." At first, the pinkette couldn't seem to comprehend the statement, then her eyes widened, making a long and loud 'ehh?' as she backed up. The silver haired actually found it to be a cute reaction, bringing an amused smile onto his face. "What's the matter?" he asked her, laughing, "I know that fighting with your fists is pretty unusual amongst nobility and royalty, but that doesn't make it any less effective so long as your skill is adequate."

Louise flushed in embarrassment as the silver haired boy continued his bout of quiet laughter, her retort being held back only by the knowledge that the one before her could very well ask for her head.

_"Alexander,"_ Undine's voice suddenly called, her voice filled with urgency. Alex stopped laughing almost instantly, which didn't go unnoticed by Louise

_"Undine? What is it?"_

_"There's something strange in the flow of the water in this place. I've been feeling it for a while and I think I may have figured out the problem."_

_"Problem? What problem?"_

_"Hnn… It would probably be better if you see for yourself. Just look out the window."_

"Your highness? Is something wrong?" the pinkette asked worriedly, bringing the silver haired teen out of his internal conversation.

Alexander turned to her with a disarming smile and shook his head. "No, nothing. Just… do you mind if I took a look outside your window? I want to see what this place I've been summoned to looks like."

She looked at him curiously for a moment, only for it to wash away quickly with a nod of her head. "Of course," she allowed, "please, if you need anything else, just ask. If it is within my power, I will do it as compensation for the inconvenience I've caused you."

Alexander nodded thankfully before standing up and heading to the window east of the bed, throwing it open as soon as he could and gazing outside. He immediately regretted this decision as the sight ultimately destroyed any hopes he had of this merely being some isolated part of the world whose people simply didn't know what they were talking about. The sky of his world only had a single, pale moon after all, not two richly colored ones.

_"I really need to talk things out with this girl."_

-X-

Next Morning…

"Err… so… why do you want to keep being my familiar again?" Louise asked from behind the curtains of her bed as she changed into her uniform. "I mean, you're royalty. I can't exactly force you to do anything, even if I _did_ summon and form a contract with you."

Alexander hummed in response, happy that Louise had at least acknowledged his request of not referring to him as she would any other prince. Convincing her of that had taken a while, but it had still paid off. "I already told you, this isn't my world. I don't know how you did it, but you managed to pull me out of my own." That had been a long discussion, and the effect was eminent from the pink haired girl's sluggish movement regular yawns… at least, he thought so. "Travelling between dimensions isn't unheard of in my world, however rare it is. People will come looking for me soon enough, but until then, I need a guide in this world."

Another yawn escaped Louise as she began tying on her mantle. "You could just tell people that you're royalty," she suggested, "I mean, they're not going to just believe you off the bat, but if you showed them what you can do, I'm pretty sure a lot of people will be convinced."

The silver haired boy made a sound of disapproval. "Too risky," he answered, shaking his head. "There are always unsavory people living in the world. If someone of high standing were to try and take advantage of the fact that there was a member of Royalty who was dragged out of his homeland, things could get too troublesome for my liking."

Hearing her feet touch the ground, Alexander turned, meeting her gaze. "That isn't even taking into account the fact that you are essentially responsible for this problem, albeit not intentionally. If people found out, you and possibly your family may very well be thrust into a political scandal."

A look of understanding crossed Louise's face as she nodded. The silver haired boy smiled in return. "It would be best if, for now, I actually do act as your familiar. I will use my powers if need be, but my status as a prince is better kept under wraps." So he said, walking towards the door.

He paused mid-way; his hand coming up to thumb his chin in thought, humming to himself. "Also, it should be noted that you did, technically, knock me unconscious with that kiss yesterday. Seeing as a familiar is what you wanted to get out of that, I can't really refuse any more."

"Ugh… huh?" Louise sounded her confusion, but Alexander didn't elaborate any further as he reached the door of her dorm.

He turned to face her and, with a bow befitting of a gentleman greeting a lady, he twisted the knob and held out his hand. "Now then, Ms. Vallière, while I cannot escort you to a place I do not know the location of, I would still be more than happy to accompany you to breakfast," he said in his most charming voice. The slight blush on her cheeks and her dumbfounded expression as he smiled at her was more than enough of a reward to Alexander.

He was no monster himself, but his mother is the Monster Lord, and one of his teachers was the Succubus Queen. If you didn't know how to attract someone of the fairer sex after living through such conditions for sixteen years, then you were obviously never meant to get married.

-X-

Breakfast had been an odd affair, Louise decided as she walked through the courtyard. She'd arranged for Alexander to be able to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Alvíss Dining Hall the day prior, but that was before she learned of his status. As such, there had been a rather embarrassing moment for her when he'd taken notice of the bowl with soup and bread on it that had been placed on the floor soon after she found somewhere to sit.

Such a setup was, of course, unfit for someone of royal lineage, and though he was not related to any sovereign of her world, he was still in his current predicament because of Louise. It was only right that he be treated with proper respect. The last thing she wanted was to have the prince become angry at her. She'd already seen what he was capable of and could only imagine what would happen if his family had gotten word of him being mistreated.

It was with that thought that she had endured the stares of her classmates as they asked amongst themselves why a plebian was allowed to eat the same meal as them. Said 'plebian' had completely ignored all of it as he sampled and commented on the food provided like a professional gourmet critic. Louise, sadly, was not as impervious to their whispered questions and jeers, and had to continuously keep a tight grip on her temper the whole time, lest she do something to further embarrass herself.

And surprisingly enough, she'd succeeded. They'd gone in, ate with perfect manners, and then got out as quickly as proper etiquette allowed. About the only other oddity was that Alexander hadn't prayed with them, but that was to be expected; not that her classmates knew.

Still, despite the classmates' and even the senior and junior students' scrutinizing and commenting, things had gone about as close to normal as they could get. For that, the pinkette was thankful.

"So Ms. Vallière, why is it that all these students are out here when others still have classes?" the silver haired teen asked keeping a apace with her, his golden eyes looking at her shorter frame while keeping his head faced forward.

"Classes have been cancelled for the second years today so that they can form stronger bonds with their familiars," she replied curtly, looking at all the familiars of her fellow classmates. Twenty four hours ago, she thought that she had gotten the worst familiar one could possibly summon: a plebian that would likely not be able to do anything of use to her. Since the previous night, she'd learned that the 'plebian' was in fact a member of a royal family from another world who could petrify someone just by looking at their eyes.

By all accounts, she should have been jumping up and down in joy. It was only her pride and discipline as a noble, combined with the fact that she really didn't want to embarrass herself in front of royalty that had stopped her from doing so.

Sadly, his own strategy for handling the situation meant that she couldn't flaunt that fact around, which ultimately meant that even if she knew that she wasn't a complete failure, everyone else still thought that she was. Well… everyone except her sister, but Cattleya wasn't in the academy, so the thought wasn't really any more helpful than it usually was. Still, it gave her hope.

"Well, if it isn't Louise and her plebian familiar," someone called out from behind them; a voice Louise knew all too well, and one she didn't welcome.

The two turned around to be met by an overly busty redhead wearing the same uniform as Louise; the only difference being the unbuttoned portion of her blouse that showed off her cleavage. Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst, the daughter of the Vallière family's longest standing enemy; the Zerbst of Germania.

"Zerbst…" the pinkette ground out, her eyes narrowing at the other mage. The redhead just smirked triumphantly at her. An impromptu stare off seemed to spark between the busty mage's confident glare, and the petite mage's displeased one.

"Not to be rude or anything, but just what _is_ that?" Alexander inquired, cutting their confrontation short. Both girls turned to look at him, only to see him pointing at the giant red lizard near Kirche's leg. The fire tailed creature, oddly enough, seemed to shrink away from the silver haired prince.  
Well… no, that wasn't completely odd when Louise really thought about it. If Zerbst's Salamander saw anything close to what she did yesterday, Louise wouldn't really be able to find fault it's reaction.

Confused, but not willing to let an opportunity like this pass by, Kirche turned her victorious smirk towards Louise's familiar. "Is this your first time seeing a salamander?" she giggled, hoping to get a good reaction. She got was a blank stare filled with incredulity instead.

"_That_ is _**a** Salamander_?" he asked almost indignantly. Alex snorted dismissively, his arms crossing over his chest once the redhead had answered with a confused nod. "Feh… that's pretty low standard. What the hell are the people in this world thinking?" he asked rhetorically, turning away from the vermillion reptile and its master. "That's nothing more than a beast with an affinity for fire. Not even a dragon, really. To claim that it is the elemental spirit of fire itself..." he spat out the last statement, continuing his walk towards the tables set up for the second years, "truly, that must be one of the greatest epitomes of foolishness I've ever or will ever come to know."

Louise and Kirche were left dumbstruck as Alexander walked away, perplexed by his tone of voice. He didn't look back anymore save for a short glance towards his summoner. It was enough to snap the pinkette out of her puzzlement, and soon she had caught up to him, fighting off the smirk threatening to play on her lips.

Her familiar had just insulted Kirche's familiar, and in doing so, Kirche herself. Yes, she definitely changed her mind about having Alexander Fateburn as her familiar. He might need to return once he's found by those from his world; an eventuality that he was certain would happen. Until then, Louise decided to make the most of it. For now, he was a good familiar, even if he still outranked her.

If only she knew what kind of events lay before her because of this, perhaps she would've been more apprehensive about taking the silver haired prince as her familiar.


	4. Chapter 3

No news. Just here to say that I don't own MGQ or ZnT

**Chapter III: Second Impressions**

"He challenged you to a duel," Louise pointed out flatly at Alexander, the two of them walking side by side to the Vestri Court. The silver haired teen nodded, humming his affirmation. The young mage could almost feel her eye twitching as she held back a shout, her arms crossed over her chest. "And you accepted?" he gave the same response, feeding her frustration even further.

"Whatever happened to being discreet!?" she burst out; berating herself only when she'd realized that she'd shouted at the prince. It didn't seem to bother him though. In fact, all Alex did was give her a short, questioning glance before turning his head towards a far off part of the school's field where a large group of students where gathering.

"I said that I didn't want anyone finding out about my status," he told her quietly, his tone nonchalant. "I never once said that I'd be holding anything else back. In fact, I explicitly told you just this morning that I will use my powers whenever needed," he reminded her, a small smirk on his face. "By that, I did not just mean when an emergency arose, but anytime I'm called to fight."

Louise's step faltered for a moment as she remembered their conversation before coming to breakfast. Indeed, he had said those words to her, and she had taken them to mean as the silver haired teen had said. Still, the pinkette tried to make a retort, only to find that she couldn't really make any plausible arguments, and instead was left grumbling.

"Why did you even accept Guiche's challenge anyway?" she asked the only question that came to mind, sighing in resignation. "He's just trying to save face by beating someone he thinks will give him an easy victory."

Louise expected a quick response to her answer, like he always seemed to give, so when she heard nothing from the silver haired prince, she'd given him a sideways glance to see what was wrong. What she saw quickly made her turn her head completely in order to stare at his face. The young prince had frowned before. In fact, until they'd reached an understanding, Louise had only ever seen his conscious face with an angry scowl on it. However, in all those times, his irritation was evident; both on his face and the image of a giant snake it seemed to impose on her mind.

Now… now she felt like she was staring at her mother whenever something displeased her greatly. Tranquil fury, she believed was the term for it. Having seen it a few times in her life, the pinkette had learned to quickly identify the emotion. She'd also learned that whenever someone showed such emotions, it was generally very bad for whoever was on the receiving end of it.

"That arrogant fop did something I absolutely cannot forgive. In fact, had he not challenged me, I'm certain I would've been the one to do so," was his belated answer, making the young mage wonder just what the third son of the Gramont family could've possibly done to enrage Alexander so much. She'd dragged him out of his home and had all but _enslaved_ him, after all, and he didn't seem to hold her in contempt. At least not after they'd reached an understanding.

"Might I ask you what had happened?" she inquired, now actually a bit worried. Guiche wasn't someone she felt any attachments to, but that didn't mean she was fine with him being turned into a statue. She already felt somewhat disturbed when he'd done that to a bat passing across her window the night before.

Oh sure, he managed to reverse the effect, and had claimed to be able to do so at any time, which was fortunate, as the flying mammal in question had probably been someone else's familiar. But that alone wasn't enough to relieve someone's mind. Not when they were in her situation.

Alexander huffed. "Well, I assume you remember how I had gone to the kitchen?" he asked back, and the pink haired girl nodded.

"You said you wanted to know whether they had that… umm… coffee, was it?"

"Yes," he replied, "well, after finding out that they didn't even know what coffee was -a great offence in and of itself- I had come back trying to find you when I saw a bottle fall out of the fool's pocket. As is proper decorum, I informed him about what had happened, and upon ignoring me, tried to return it to him myself."

"Uh huh…" Louise nodded again as she followed the short narration. A part of her felt like telling him that princes following proper decorum typically didn't just pick stuff up off the ground, but given how little she knew about his homeland, Louise had ultimately decided not to voice it.

"Once I'd placed the bottle on the table, he'd claimed that it was not his," Alexander continued recounting, his tone getting more and more annoyed by the second. "Those around him had helpfully pointed out that it was apparently the signature perfume of a fellow student who, I assumed, the fool was dating."

"And?"

The silver haired teen snorted, his arms crossing over his chest. "I was correct on that account, but while he was trying to make some form of retort, a girl with a brown cape came up and began crying." Louise's brow furrowed as her familiar's expression jumped from annoyed to incensed. "At first, I was only suspicious when the brown haired girl -Katie, I believe was her name- had slapped him and left, but then a blonde girl came and all but confirmed my suspicions."

"Ah…" the pinkette mouthed, now knowing exactly where this was going. "So Guiche was dating both a first year and Montmorency," she deduced, earning a questioning look from the prince.

"How did you know the other girl's name?" he asked, perplexed.

"Montmorency is well known for making her own perfume, and is the only one in the academy with blonde her with that reputation."

A look of understanding came across Alexander's face as he nodded, turning his gaze forward. "Seems our time for talk has ended," he said as they reached the already gathered crowd of students. All of them parted to allow the two passage, talking excitedly amongst themselves.

"Ms. Vallière," he called to get the pink haired mage's attention. His eyes were serious as he faced her, "I will say this only once, Ms. Vallière: there is a particular way I intend this duel to turn out. What I choose to do may seem nonsensical at first, but I give you full assurance that I know exactly what I am doing. As such, I ask that you not try to interfere, regardless of what may happen. Are we clear?"

She stopped walking as soon as he'd finished, staring at her familiar with eyes full of suspicion. Louise really wanted to protest against that. Royalty or no, Alexander was still her familiar. She could not, in good conscience, ever allow him to do something that would hurt himself. However, the fact of the matter stood that ordering a member of royalty just wasn't done. And besides that, the resolve and authority in his eyes made it clear that this wasn't arguable.

With a reluctant nod, she allowed the silver haired prince to take his place on the field.

-X-

"First of all, I commend you for coming here instead of running away!" Guiche -or as Alex had dubbed him: the arrogant, womanizing fool- remarked, twirling a rose in his hand.

With a reluctant nod, she allowed the silver haired prince to take his place on the field.

"First of all, I commend you for coming here instead of running away!" Guiche -or as Alex had dubbed him: the arrogant, womanizing fool- remarked, twirling a rose in his hand.

Alexander snorted. "The only ones who run from fools are those more foolish themselves," he shot back, his legs shifting until they were shoulder width apart; his arms by his side.

The laughter Alex drew from their audience only seemed to make his blonde haired opponent angrier. "Enough!" Guiche shouted. Bringing the rose in his hand level with his face, he glared heatedly at the still relaxed Alexander, "let us be-"

"Hold on a second."

The silver haired boy's words rang out above the excited chattering of the gathered students. The blonde mage glared at his opponent for the interruption, only for it to be replaced by a mocking grin. "Thinking about running away now, plebian?" he taunted, waving his rose in front of his face as if trying to scare the shorter teen.

"Feh… arrogant fool," Alexander responded coolly, his stance unchanging. "I merely wish to exercise my right as the challenged in this duel."

His words stopped Guiche's show of confidence in short order. The challenged had the right to choose the conditions regarding the duel. Essentially, he could make it so that using magic was not allowed; a fact that his opponent seemed to realize all too late. But that wouldn't do. A quick victory here would hold no meaning. It was imperative that Alex taught the one who stood in front of him an important lesson.

"Surrender shall not be allowed from either side unless given permission by their opponent. The winner is the one who first knocks his opponent unconscious… or worse."

Silence fell upon the field as Alexander's stipulation registered in their heads. Then, all at once, the crowd began to murmur with renewed vigor. At the same time, a sadistic smile formed on Guiche's face. "Very well," he responded, laughing to himself. "You've sealed your fate," that said, he waved his rose to the side with a flourish.

A single petal fell from it, descending slowly as it floated in the breeze. Where it touched the ground, a brilliant light shone and with a hum of power, a feminine metallic figure rose from the earth with a spear clutched in its right hand. "My runic name is Guiche the Bronze," the mage announced with a flourish. "Accordingly, my bronze Valkyrie shall be your real opponent."

Alexander remained unmoving save for his eyes which were now glaring at the shining, green golem. _"I'm, guessing he's an earth mage then. Given that mole that was with him earlier I expected as much. I can't say I like the design either. That looks nothing like the pictures of the Valkyries from the last war."_

_"Are you going to summon Gnome now?"_ Sylph's voice asked curiously.

_"Not yet. I want to teach him a lesson, but at the same time, I am curious about the magic used in this world. For now, I'll test his strength. Plus, it'll give me the chance to break his spirit. It's a bit cruel, but there are times when one must act sadistic to make sure they get their point across.  
_  
Alex cut the mental dialogue short when the golem rushed forward, its free hand cocked back. But the silver haired teen remained unmoving until its fist collided with his stomach, forcing him to stumble back. He felt a modicum of pain, but not much else. He was used to hits that hard, and much harder still. It came with being trained by someone who could punch you two dozen times in a single second.

"Was that your best shot?" the prince goaded, regaining his balance. The spark of rage in Guiche's eyes clearly showed that his taunt had worked. Within seconds, the Valkyrie renewed its onslaught throwing punch after punch all over Alex's body, and even clubbing him with the shaft of its spear.

Through it all, Alexander only moved after being struck and to regain his balance. None of the hits hurt much all on their own, but they did stack up, and soon, bruises were beginning to form on his flesh. Despite that, he'd never once been knocked down by his opponent, even after ten long minutes of being endlessly pummeled.

A punch to the side of his face made the silver haired boy reel back, but like before, had stopped himself from falling down and returned to his relaxed stance. On the other side of the field, Guiche sported a superior smirk.

"I must commend you again, commoner," he said, his voice full of confidence… or so most would believe. There was a hint of nervousness there, Alex, and indeed anyone perceptive enough could tell. "To keep standing after all that is impressive. But I think it would probably be best for me to give you the choice of surrender now. Though I wish to teach you respect, I'd rather not accidentally brand myself a killer in doing so, even if I can't be punished under law for killing in a duel."

The silver haired teen remained silent for a few moments, eyeing his opponent with an impassive face. "If you're done, I believe it's my turn," he said, closing his eyes. Taking advantage of the confusion and/or disbelief everyone seemed to have about his bravado, Alexander began to meditate.

A number of gasps and shouts of surprise reached his ears as he felt the power of his angelic blood take effect. Within seconds, all of his bruises were gone, and his entire body felt right as rain. His eyes opened to a shocked opponent.

"Ho… how?" Guiche asked, confused and alarmed.

"Such weak attacks… will not be enough to defeat me," he told the blonde in a chilling tone. "You claim yourself a mage of the earth, yet your golems are so weak," Alexander continued, goading the blonde boy further. "The earth is the element of strength and endurance. Regardless of how you decide to use it, for it to lack ample force behind its blows is a disgrace to the element itself."

Guiche's eyes widened, only to narrow into a deep seethed glare. "Do not presume to talk to a mage as if you know their craft better than them! Stupid Plebian!" he shot back, at the same time commanding his golem to continue attacking.

_"Now?"_

_"Now."_

_"Gnomey, you're up!"_

Alexander's hands balled into fists, his eyes narrowed at the approaching Valkyrie. "Take the breath of the earth into my body." His words were quiet, yet clear, and were heard by all who listened as a bronze fist lashed out at his head.

Eyes widened as the sound of metal collapsing on itself rang loudly.

Like before, Alexander had allowed the golem to punch him. Unlike before, he didn't reel back, nor did he get another bruise. In fact, all it managed to accomplish was nudge his head to the side. On the other hand, the golem's fist had been deformed, looking much like a badly mangled gauntlet. No one could wrap their heads around the event completely, and it had stunned them into silence. All but one and he took full advantage of it.

With a dismissive huff, Alexander moved his left leg back. His right hand came up, slapping the golem's warped forearm before his other hand shot forward with the weight of the earth behind it, right into the Valkyrie's midsection. The lance wielding figure was thrown several feet back; what would've been the solar plexus on a normal human caved in with a vague imprint of a fist indented in the middle.

Challenging golden eyes met frightened green ones as Alex slipped into a proper fighting stance. With a taunting smirk, the silver haired teen held his right hand out into a come-hither motion. The fear in Guiche drained at that, turning into pure rage born of torn pride. Growling, he waved his rose wand wildly, multiple petals falling to ground. The first touched his already fallen Valkyrie, bringing it back to top condition, while the rest formed their own bronze warrior; all of them armed by some form of weaponry. By the end of it all, the blonde mage was surrounded by seven of the feminine figures.

Alexander had to admit, what he saw didn't bode well for him. Taking out three or four golems at a time wouldn't be much of a problem, but seven all at once was not going to be easy if they got the upper hand for even a second. After all, what could neither be pierced nor pummeled can still be choked and locked so long as it was alive. Besides that, he'd need Gnome's power to damage them conventionally, which meant that he couldn't fight at his usual speed. That ultimately left one option for him. As Lady Granberia had once advised him: the best defense is a good offence.

Taking a short, calming breath, he charged straight into the fray. Though he didn't have the wind augmenting his speed, Alexander was still fast on his feet, and he showed it as he weaved between the throng of Valkyries, throwing punches and kicks left and right; each one deforming their target a great degree. One by one, each of the animated bronze statues fell, far too damaged to support themselves after the crushing blows.

In the middle of all the crushed metal, Alex stood in the same fighting stance as before, panting lightly. His body was littered with small cuts and bruises from when the Valkyrie's had resorted to using the more lethal parts of their weapons. The silver haired boy had to admit, they were well made. But sharpness of blades and spears could only help so much when they met such heavy resistance.

It didn't mean that he wasn't feeling any pain though. So, relaxing his stance and taking a calming breath, he began meditating once again. He could hear his opponent panicking just meters away, preceding a hurried swish of something swiping through the air, again and again, and as his golden eyes opened, Alex was greeted by another throng of golems, this time standing guard around their creator.

_"Time to up ante, it seems. Ready Gnome?"_

_"... ... ..."_

Hearing no reply, but feeling the spirit's intent, Alexander shifted his stance to a much wider one, almost as though he was riding a horse. He bent down, his left hand reaching out to touch the grassy soil, while his other remained chambered at his waist.

_"Feel the breathing of the earth as it shifts beneath your feet."_ The Fox Queen's sagely advice resonated in his mind, and so he waited.

Guiche, apparently emboldened by the silver haired teen's lack of action, began positioning six of his seven new golems around Alex; their weapons at the ready.

_"Their movements are slower. Clumsier. He's running out of energy."_

He continued to wait as the blonde mage contemplated starting another attack.

_"Wait until the most opportune moment when it inhales-"_

_"This is already over. There's no doubt about it."_

The golems charged at Alexander once more, and if it was possible, he was sure that they'd be screaming war cries. Yet he waited for them; allowed them to close in, until he felt the breath of the earth hitch.

_"- then, strike ground with all your might!"_

Golden eyes opened wide as Alexander's right fist tightened and came down on the soft soil as he shouted: "Namazu's Tremor!"

As Alex's words shook the air, his strike shook the earth, creating a deep crater twice as wide as the space between his feet. Smaller cracks fanned out, causing patterns of sundered earth like a spider's web. People were falling all over themselves around him as the ground beneath them shifted violently, his opponent and all his creations not excluded.

The silver haired teen, however, managed to retain his footing, and used the blonde mage's wobbling to attack. He paid little mind to the unsteady golems as they tried to stop him, but with his augmented strength and their continued stumbling, he was able to swat away the two nearest to Guiche with ease.

The blonde's eyes were wide with fright now; his body stiffening in horror as Alexander's left palm met the right of his chest. Guiche's eyes scrunched up in pain as he stumbled to the ground, losing his wand in the process. His golems finally fell, as though puppets with their strings cut lose. Now, only the two of them remained able on the battle grounds.

-X-

Guiche was scared. No, more than that, he was frightened to the core. He had challenged the Zero's familiar as a way to save face and get revenge; perhaps relieve a little stress as well. At first, it had gone well. The silver haired teen barely did anything more than kept himself from falling. If the third son of the Gramont family didn't want to punish him at that moment, he may have even expressed how impressed he was. And then slowly, he began to have some doubts as the commoner continued to endure.

He'd tried to goad the plebian into giving up and to just accept his loss. That had quickly turned into a big mistake when the familiar had miraculously healed himself, and without even using any form of magic. It was a sight that shocked, awed and frightened him all at once, and it was that same fright that made him attack once more when he'd been insulted.

'Take the breath of the earth into my body.'

That was the commoner's only response, and for a while, Guiche thought that maybe he had dealt the shorter teen a great deal of damage; just not one which was physically evident. But that wasn't to be. What at first looked like another clean punch to the face had turned into his golem's left hand becoming warped, rendering essentially useless. And then the silver haired boy had knocked his Valkyrie away as though it weighed nothing.

He'd tried again after that, summoning six golems and repairing his last one, but as good as they did, even those weren't enough. Within less than a minute, the commoner had deformed them with his bare hands. Then to make it even worse, the silver haired teen began to heal again.

By that point, Guiche's willpower was already at a very low amount, a fact he knew very well. But preservation instincts told him that doing nothing was not a choice he wanted to make. So he created seven more Valkyries. They were somewhat cruder in appearance compared to the ones he made before hand, but that came second to keeping himself safe.

From there, he waited for the silver haired boy to make his move, ready to transmute a sword in a moment's notice in a last bid to catch the familiar by surprise. Yet the shorter teen did nothing but wait. And so, in his impatience, Guiche had his golems flank him, hoping to overwhelm him with attacks from all sides as he took an odd stance.

Upon further non-action, he ordered his golems to attack, and the nightmare began anew. The silver haired familiar had punched the ground, and despite the impossibility of it all had managed to form a great crater unarmed. The world shook underneath him, and his opponent charged, mowing down his golems like flies.

Unable to react accordingly, Guiche was pushed to the ground, feeling great pain in his right breast. Though no expert on medicine or combat, even he was sure that had at least fractured his ribs. And so he was forced to lie there, trembling as those golden eyes burning with cold fury stared unflinching into his own.

In a seamless second, he found himself facing an ungodly large serpent, glaring down at him; its forked tongue slipping out of its mouth for the shortest of seconds. The terrifying hiss almost made him wet his pants.

With no wand, and too little willpower to do anything even if he did, fear took hold of him, and he was left unable to even move. This commoner… no, this warrior in front of him could surely be nothing short of a monster.

"You cannot give up without my say so, do you realize that?" the silver haired teen had asked him, and he nodded dumbly.

His opponent snorted. "I will allow it," he announced, bringing a spark of hope into Guiche's spirit. "However, I will do so only if you can convince those two ladies to ask it of me within the next three minutes. Otherwise…"

All of a sudden, that spark was extinguished, not even having time to bring about the smallest of embers. Dread crept into the young Gramont's spine as his head turned a little, hoping beyond all hope that the 'ladies' his opponent was pointing to were not who he thought they were. He knew though that it couldn't have been any other pair. Sure enough, it was indeed Montmorency and Katie whom his opponent was pointing towards; both looking surprised as they paused from picking themselves up off the ground.

"Three minutes," he heard that menacing voice once again, more authoritive and fierce than he'd ever heard before. It was enough to make him try to ignore his pain and crawl towards the two until he was kneeling in front of them. "Mo… Montmorency… Katie… I beg of you two; please tell him to let me surrender. I'm sorry for what I have done. I insulted and embarrassed the both of you. I've learned my lesson. Please… just tell him to let me go," he pleaded, all pretenses of pride having dissolved in a sea of fear.

He saw hesitation in their eyes as they looked from him to Louise's familiar.

"Two Minutes!"

The blonde resisted the urge to scream like a little girl, and instead had bowed to the two; his head touching the ground. "Please! I'll accept any punishment you have in mind! I will do anything that you ask of me, no matter how degrading it is! Just don't let him do that to me!" he continued desperately, pointing back towards one of his mangled golems. "Montmorency the Fragrance! Katie the Hearth! Please forgive this fool that kneels before you!"

"One Minute!"

"Wa-wait!"

"S-stop this already!"

Two voices from right in front of Guiche shouted at once. Sitting back upright, he saw both Montmorency and Katie standing back up; their eyes locked onto the silver haired teen. "Let him give up," it was surprisingly the blonde amongst the two who spoke first, her tone hesitant, but commanding. "Guiche has already apologized. I don't want to have to see him be crushed."

"Ye-Yes!" Katie followed up nervously. "This is enough. Please… allow sir Guiche to concede."

"… Very well," the silver haired teen answered as Guiche looked over his shoulder. Those authoritative golden eyes were still staring at him. "Guiche de Gramont, was it?" he asked, receiving a nervous nod from the blonde. "I give you the right to concede. Do you wish to use it?"

"Urk… ye-yes!" Guiche answered as he shot to his feet. The silver haired teen sighed in response.

"Very well. I'll put this issue behind me," he replied, only to give the blonde an even fiercer stare. "All that aside, Mr. Gramont, I will warn you this: What you have done to these two is considered inexcusable in my homeland, and though we are not there right now, I will still consider what you did a punishable act. Are we clear?"  
"Yes! Crystal clear!" Guiche responded hurriedly, "I promise to never again attempt to court multiple women at the same time!"

Murmuring began amongst the crowd again, having finally been released from their shocked state. Many of them questioning the sincerity of Guiche's claim.

[Play Comi1: www dot youtube dot com / watch?v=10AgtzeqIs0]

"What on earth are you talking about?" Louise's familiar suddenly asked, his tone and expression clearly confused.

Guiche blinked. "Umm… the crime I committed which is considered inexcusable in your country?"

"Wha?" the warrior only seemed more confused, until realization seemed to dawn on him, and his righteous fury returned with a vengeance. "You insolent fool! Are you really that stupid!" he barked out, much to everyone else's puzzlement and Guiche's fear. "You think I care about how many women you try and date!? I was talking about you cheating on them, fool!"

"E… ehh?" was Guiche's intelligent reply.

The silver haired teen huffed. "Though not official, and thus, not punishable by law, many still consider courting multiple women without their knowledge a grave offense, and I shall not stand for it!"

Again, Guiche blinked, this time joined by all the onlookers as they stared at the silver haired teen. "O…kay… and about dating multiple women in general?" the blonde asked, more out of actual curiosity than any form of vested interest.

He would regain interest in the answer later, of course. Most likely after a quick trip to the Academy's medical ward.

Again, the warrior huffed. "I came from a place where polygamy is an absolute necessity!" he declared proudly, crossing his arms over his chest. "You could date one, two or even twenty women all at once, and I wouldn't even bat an eye as long as they all know about each other!"

…

...

...

**"EHHHHHH!"**


	5. Chapter 4

Okay, a few things to note about this story. First, this follows a mix of the anime and light novel elements of the ZnT world. Second, I've taken a few liberties with how some of the vaguer aspects of the magic in both ZnT and MGQ work, so expect some concepts that aren't entirely canon.

I don't own ZnT or MGQ.

**Chapter IV Side A: Meaning of Zero**

"I don't get it." Louise's frustrated admittance drew Alexander's attention towards her, his face fixed in a questioning gaze. The petite mage looked back at him with her rose eye, her face illuminated by the light of the twin moons passing through her dorm room's window.

"I thought we already went over this earlier?" the silver haired teen said, exasperated. "Where I come from, men only make up one third of the people in the world, and half the women have a condi-"

"Not that!" the pinkette stopped him, only to shrink in on herself at her impulsive reaction.

Alexander's face fell at the sight. "You don't have to treat me like that you know," he told her, his arms crossing over his chest. "Technically speaking, I'm not even a prince in this world, seeing as my mother's kingdom doesn't exist, so there's no need to treat me like one. If there's something about me that bothers you, then just say it."

Louise made a sound of discomfort as she continued to eye the silver haired prince. "That's exactly my problem!" she exploded before taking a calming breath. "You're a prince, but you don't seem to mind being called or even treated like a commoner at all, even though when I first summoned you, it looked like you got really angry because of it. You fight with your fists and your feet more than with magic or even a weapon. You're willing to make yourself look like my familiar, and for Founder's sake, you actually _insisted_ on sleeping on that bed of hay!" she listed off, pointing at the aforementioned hay bed beneath the other teen.

Alexander eyed her with a confused expression on his face, propping himself up into a seated position. He regarded her for a while, humming contemplatively. "To begin with…" he started after a while, "when you first summoned me, I got angry because I felt like you people were insulting me by calling me a commoner. It still feels that way at times, but now that I know there's a reason for it, it no longer bothers me as much."

"As for fighting unarmed and without magic… well, I can attest to the unarmed part, but I definitely used magic when I fought that classmate of yours earlier," he pointed out, his hands intertwining behind his head as he leaned on the wall. "It's just that the style of magic I use is very different from the style you people are used to seeing."

That last comment piqued Louise is interest, and she decided to keep his words in mind for a later time.

"And about being your familiar… well, it wouldn't really be the first time I've spent most of my days under someone's employ. Nor would it be the first time I slept on a bed of hay, or even worse," he finished with a small smirk.

The pink haired mage cocked her head to the side. "Wha… not the… why?!" she inquired, completely perplexed at the puzzle before her.

Alexander fell back onto his makeshift bed with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Mostly? It was because I took my father's teaching about the importance of understanding a little too seriously," he replied, ending with a sheepish smile. "Still, it was a good learning experience," he added, "I managed to acquire a lot of useful skills, learn all sorts of important stuff," he listed off. "Of course, it would've been a lot easier if Alice didn't spend most of it lazing about and complaining."

Louise's brow quirked upwards in curiosity, even as she too lay down on her bed; turning her body to the side so that she would face the foreign prince. "Alice?"

"Alicefeeze Fateburn XVII," Alex replied, "my twin sister, and heiress presumptive to the crown of Hellgondo."

"Oh…" the pink haired mage nodded, though she was still clearly a little confused. Said confusion was completely driven out when what Alexander said registered in her mind, causing her to sit up with a startled cry. "Heiress _presumptive?!_" she asked disbelievingly, and with good reason. The title of heir or heiress presumptive was frowned upon in Tristain, and indeed most of Halkeginia due to its implications. Generally, it meant that the person who had it was either an illegitimate/adopted child, or was incompetent and undeserving of their inheritance, after all. She knew the title all too well, in fact.

Alexander didn't seem surprised by her reaction though. In fact, he was looking at Louise with a triumphant smile. "I just knew you'd react like that," he said, laughing a little. "A lot of people react in the same way when they hear about it, but there is a reason for Alice's title."

The shorter teen blinked, still somewhat taken aback. When she said no more, the silver haired prince decided to explain. "Ever since the first Queen of Hellgondo retired from her duties, it was made tradition that a ceremony of sorts be held for the crowning of the new queen," he began in a lecturing tone. "To become the new queen, the heiress presumptive must succeed in the trial, along with a select few individuals. It's set up so that only one of the participants can succeed, and the one who does succeed, regardless of who they are, will become the next regent."

"Eh…?" was Louise's intellectual reply, her incredulous look unchanging. "Wait… so… your family…"

"Has held the crown through all sixteen generations since its establishment," Alexander cut her off, his words filled with pride. "Never once has the crown of Hellgondo ever fallen to one who doesn't hold the name of Fateburn."

"Uh… oh…" the pink haired mage muttered her expression relaxing as she fell back onto her bed. "So… your family risks their right to the crown every time the previous queen steps down?" she inquired, looking for confirmation.

The silver haired prince shook his head in affirmative. "Yes, pretty much. The tradition might not really make sense for most people, but there is a reason for it. That's a story for another time though," he elaborated, yawning into his hand. "Goodnight, Ms. Vallière," he said, closing his eyes.

The pink haired mage, still thinking on what she'd learned, took a while to respond, but eventually wished him a good night as well. Turning around in her bed, she tucked herself in, and began sinking into her own thoughts.

_"Classes start again tomorrow. I… really hope that I'll finally be able to cast a proper spell if I'm called to do so. I summoned a prince of all things! Surely that must mean I can use magic… right?"_

Her mind filled with both doubt and hope, Louise fell into a dreamless sleep.

-X-

"Where were you during breakfast?" Louise, having just left the Alvíss dining hall, asked the silver haired boy, who approached from the different hallway.

"In the kitchen," he replied simply, a wide smile on his face. "Truly, whoever it was who hired the head chef here _must_ be a genius. Almost as much as the head chef is himself" he added, ignoring the odd way the pinkette was looking at him. Not that that was hard. He'd been getting odd looks from nearly every other person in school; even the serving staff. Certainly, he was used to how many of the young women -and disturbingly enough, more than the usual number of men, given the school's apparent population- looked at him with flustered faces and began giggling amongst themselves. Half monsters tended to release more pheromones than normal males, after all.

But that didn't explain the strange combination of intrigue, nervousness and -even more confusing- worship that some of them (mostly male students, concerning the latter) were giving him. It was uncomfortable at first, to be sure, but not all that hard to learn not to pay attention to.

"O…kay… and why were you in the kitchen?" the petite mage followed up as she began walking to class. To her dismay, the silver haired prince continued soon fell into step with her.

"Why?" Alexander asked back with an incredulous look on his face. "To eat of course, why else would I go to the kitchen?"

"Because there was food in the dining hall," Louise pointed out matter-of-factly.

Alex responded with a short, quiet laugh in return. "Really now, Ms. Vallière?" he replied, with fake disappointment. "Truly, you must not know nor understand the finer points of travelling and culture."

The pink haired mage looked over her shoulder, frowning at him. "With all due respect," she began quietly, her eyes shifting to make sure none but her familiar heard her, "I am a daughter of a duke, I've learned all there is to learn about travelling and of the culture of all four countries in Halkeginia."

"Which changes nothing for my argument," Alex countered. "Due to my status, I myself have learned pretty much all there is to handling a sword. Yet despite that, I know little about it and understand just as much because I've never truly practiced it. Learning about a subject and actually_ knowing and understanding_ it are two completely different aspects."

Louise held her scowl, this time joined by an inquisitive glint in her pink orbs. "Fine, what exactly is it that I don't 'know nor understand' about the finer points of traveling and culture?"

And here, Alexander adopted what was a very rare expression upon his features: that of a superior looking down on his lost little subject. "Humph… it is merely as my mother had once said. 'The best way to understand the culture of the people is through the delicacies of the serfs'," he explained to her in a lecturing tone, crossing his arms over his chest. "The foods served to the nobility are altered greatly in order to fit their tastes. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, more often than not, it means using culinary techniques from different places and meshing them all into one. The reason I went to the kitchen is because I wanted to ask the chefs to prepare for me the traditional dishes of the country."

Louise blinked, her face blank. "I… see," she said, clearly lying, but with Alex too engrossed in the memories of his recent dining experience, her intended sarcasm was just lost. "And they actually agreed?" the pinkette inquired, her face taking on a genuinely curious expression. No one else knew about the silver haired boy's status, and the order didn't come from her, so it was a wonder why they had.

"But of course," Alexander nodded with evident satisfaction. "In fact, all of the chefs were quite eager to do so. They'd started cooking all sorts of dishes once all the nobles' breakfasts were served. The head chef Marteau especially," he added, speaking the chef's name as if referring to a wise man who only appeared in the middle of a heroic journey to give great advice of infinite wisdom to the heroes… and then promptly died. "It would seem that my performance yesterday against your classmate had greatly impressed them. Many of them kept calling me 'Our Fist' and praising my actions during the duel. Not exactly a high point, certainly, but it _did_ get me lots of great food."

The petite mage felt her brow twitch as she listened to her familiar's narration. "You were happy about the food more than their praise?" she asked in disbelief. Sure, empty praise was something she was thought to never revel in, but still…

The silver haired teen returned her incredulous look with one of his own. "Of course I was," he answered, as though it was obvious. "Praise is good and all provided it's in moderation, but you can't _eat it_."

Her twitch grew more erratic at what she found to be a nonsensical answer. Sadly, circumstances made it so that she couldn't probe any further. Partially, it was because she was getting really annoyed, and really didn't want to shout at the prince she essentially kidnapped. Mostly though, it was because they'd reached her first class of the day and didn't want to make a scene.

She would later be studying her emotions during this moment and start wondering why it was she seemed to care less and less about Alexander's royal status within such a short span of time. At the end of that short analysis, she would conclude that there were things that the silver haired prince did which were just too nonsensical or stupid for her to really care about his status anymore.

It should be noted that children who were raised by a gluttonous Echidna, a villager turned worldwide hero, and the rest of his harem comprised of a Dragon swordswoman, a Slime with aggression issues against polluting, a Kitsune who makes herself look like a child for most of her life, and a hedonistic Succubus who was as unpredictable as the element she controlled, in a place where monsters girls feed on human semen generally weren't all that easy to get used to. That is to say if you weren't a native of the same planet, and even then…

-X-

The classrooms in the Tristain Academy of Magic, as Alexander soon learned, were similar to those used in Grangold's Royal Academy, magic or otherwise. The main difference being that they were constructed from stone as opposed to wood. The lecturing teacher stood at the lowest level, and the seats were arranged upward like stairs. Said teacher was a plump, middle-aged woman in a violet robe and matching traditional witch's hat.

In Alexander's opinion, it seemed rather odd, considering these people called themselves mages, not witches. Mages' hats were supposed to be tricornes with a long feather jutting out where the peak and brims met.

She'd taken quick notice of him when observing all the other students' familiars, and had commented on it in the most polite way possible. Granted, a few people still sniggered here and there, but a quick glare from him stopped any further comment. He may not have known the pink haired mage for very long, but Alexander wasn't exactly the kind of person who'd leave someone to suffer just because he barely knew them.

The violet clad teacher coughed into her hand to regain everyone's attention. "Let's begin the lesson, shall we?" she asked rhetorically, waving her wand above her desk. With a dim shimmer, three pebbles materialized on it. "My Runic name is 'Red Clay.' Chevreuse the Red Clay. This year, I will be teaching you all about the magic of the Earth element," Chevreuse began her lecture. "I am certain that all of you know the four great elements. Would someone care to recite them?"

A slight shift in the wind alerted Alex to someone raising their hand behind where he was sitting. A cursory glance revealed it to be the blonde girl whom his opponent from yesterday had been cheating on._ "I wonder how they resolved that issue."_

"Yes, Ms. Montmorency."

The girl with blonde ringlets stood up and answered confidently. "The four great elements are wind, earth, water and fire, Mrs. Chevreuse."

_"She said water before fire."_

_"But she left fire for last! Hah!"_

_"Only a shallow woman like you would follow that 'best for last' nonsense."_

_"Shallow!? You're the one who looks like a living puddle!"_

_"I don't know why you two are arguing. She said wind first. That means I'm the best!"_

_*Fwoosh*_

_"Gyah! Owowowow! Put it out! Put is out! Put it- glub! *gurgle gurgle*!"_

_*Spalsh*_

_"*Gasp* Huff… huff… huff…"_

_*THWAK* "Geh!" *thud* "Uhh… et tu, Gnomey?"_

_"Oi, you four, stop acting like kids and messing around in my head, I'm trying to pay attention to this."_

Despite the internal torment (not of him, mind you) going on in his head, Alexander managed to keep a calm visage. The instructor had just finished mentioning something about the uses and importance of earth magic, and the lost void element.

_"Hmm… void eh? I wonder if I can pass that up as a recognized element in our world. Alexander Fateburn, Heavenly Knight of the Void… well, it has a nice ring to it at least. I wonder if it'll ever catch on back in my world."_

_"You'd have to become strong enough to earn the title first."_

_"I know Salamander. I know."_

"Now, everyone, please recall that the basic magic of the Earth element is 'transmutation'." Alex turned his attention back to the class, noting what the teacher had said in his head. It certainly made more sense of Guiche's reliance on his golems the previous day. "While there will be people here who have already learned this in their first year, basics build foundations, so let's review it once more," Chevreuse continued, twirling her wand over the pebbles she'd conjured earlier, whispering an incantation as she focused her magic through the wand. The three tiny rocks began to glow as their composition changed, revealing sparkling lumps of metal once the lightshow died down.

_"Brass? I was expecting gold."_

"Is that g-g-gold, Mrs. Chevreuse!?" Apparently he wasn't the only one. A short glance behind him, on the opposite side of Montmorency revealed it to be that girl with the… salamander.

_"What did Ms. Vallière call her again?"_ he asked the spirits in his head.

_"Zebra-Butz?"_

_"Hey now, that's going a bit too far don't you think? I know using your name for that overgrown newt was debasing, but I highly doubt she was the one who named that thing's species."_

_"Still don't like her."_

"No, it isn't," the older mage answered. "It's plain brass. Only Square-class mages are able to transmute to gold. I'm just-" and here she paused, giving a self important cough, "a Triangle mage."

"Hmm? Louise," Alexander whispered, leaning closer to the mage. She made a quiet sound of acknowledgement. "I'm unfamiliar with the terms you people use in this magic style. What exactly does your teacher mean by 'Triangle' and 'Square' mage?"

The pink haired girl gave him a short, sideways glance before returning to her notes, explaining quietly even as she listened to the teacher continue to talk about the finer points of transmutation. "It's the number of elements that a mage can add to a spell. For example, you can use an Earth spell on its own, in which case, it's a Dot-class spell. But if you add Fire magic to it, turning it into a Line-class spell, its overall power increases."

"I see," Alexander nodded in understanding. "So would I be correct to assume that a Triangle-class mage can stack a maximum of three elements at once? And a Square-class four?" the petite mage nodded. "Huh… so it's just like Quadruple Giga, interesting."

"Quadruple Giga?"

"Ms. Vallière!"

"Y-Yes?!" Louise's gaze shot back towards the frowning face of Mrs. Chevreuse, her question left unanswered.

"Please refrain from private chatter during lessons."

"I'm sorry..." she quickly apologized, her face flustered in embarrassment. Alex felt a little guilty for putting her on the spot, but at least it wasn't so bad. Tamamo typically responded to misconduct during her lessons by force-feeding him Nattō. Not that it was much of a punishment for very long, his palette was just adaptable like that. She resorted to spanking him after that, and he resorted to making sure that that knowledge never met the light of day. He had his pride after all, and having people learn that a diminutive (but no less powerful) Kitsune had once spanked him on a regular basis was information he wasn't willing to share.

"Since you have the time to chatter, perhaps I should have you demonstrate a transmutation spell for me?"

All at once, a feeling of alarm fell upon the entire class, with many of the students stiffening in panic. This didn't escape the silver haired prince, who began to look all around him, hoping for an explanation. The petite mage beside him, not paying attention to his actions, responded to the violet clad teacher.

"Eh? Me?"

"Yes. Try changing these pebbles here into a metal of your choice."

When Alexander finally turned his head back to Louise to ask for an explanation, he found her shaking nervously in her seat, making him all the more confused. Though he hadn't known her for long, Louise certainly didn't seem like the type to freeze up when asked a something like this.

"Umm…" a feminine voice from behind him trailed off; Alex recognized it as the red haired girl from earlier. "Louise, you don't have to do this," she continued, trying to sound pacifying. "Just keep quiet and-"

"I'll do it!" the pinkette declared, practically jumping off her seat, her face contorted into a flushed grimace. The panic around the room seemed to intensify as the students began scrambling about, trying to hide behind their desks. The only exception to this was Louise, who walked up to the front of the class, and a shorter blue haired girl -the only one of the lot who didn't agitate the wind around her- who had simply left the room.

_"Alex… that girl…"_ Sylph's voice trailed off in his head, sounding worried about something.

_"What about her?"_

_"The wind around her… it's too constricted,"_ the wind spirit answered eliciting a curious expression to form on Alexander's face.

_"Too constricted? But wouldn't that mean that-"_

A sudden shift in the wind stopped the prince's line of thought. Just a second ago, the wind just felt agitated from all the students' inexplicable dread. Now it felt startled, as though something of great power was slowly approaching, getting ready to destroy all in its path… yet strangely, it held no malice. In fact, it actually seemed to be coming from…

Golden orbs widened, as Alexander's head swiveled back to take in the front of the class, where Louise was chanting her spell. Sure enough, the source of the disturbance was coming from her. All of a sudden, her classmates' actions didn't seem so random any more.

Whatever the petite mage was doing, she was nearly done with it, and there wasn't any time at all to stop it. So instead, the silver haired prince did the only thing he could: Ru… err… conduct a tactical retreat.

"Sylph, rage around as you please!" he shouted, throwing subtlety to the wind just as much as his body. From everyone else's reaction, this had probably happened before, and since no one seemed to treat Louise as some murderer, he concluded that no one would end up dying any time soon. As such, he decided to follow the blue haired girl's example and jumped out of the window with all the speed that the wind allowed him.

The explosion that sounded right after he'd cleared the boundary of the walls made his two story descent a bit rougher than he would've liked but he managed it all the same.

-X-

"I have to give you my compliments," Alexander began, having rejoined Louise just as she stepped out of the devastation that was her Earth magic lessons. "It isn't everyday that you see an explosion like that going off in a packed room with no resulting fatalities."

"Oh? Well _thank you_ for the praise your highness. You have _no idea_ how _happy_ it makes me to know that my failure had pleased you so," Louise grumbled back, her voice leaking with sarcasm. It would seem that her frustration had temporarily lifted her inhibition about treating him like royalty. Not exactly ideal, but it wasn't like the taller teen could do anything about it.

"Oh come on now, there's no need to be like that," he gently admonished, his words tinged with amusement. "So you failed. It happens to everyone every once in a while."

A shift in the wind gave warning to a spark of anger as the pinkette whirled on him; her fist clenched at her sides and her face red with embarrassment and fury. "It doesn't just happen _once in a while!_ It happens! _Every! **Time!**_" she exploded, small tears brimming at the edge of her eyes. "After finding out who you were, I thought that finally changed. But I _still_ can't cast a single spell without it exploding! _EVER!_"

Louise had started to sob before she seemed to regain her senses, turning away from him to dry her tears. Alexander, still too shocked by her outburst could only look on. "I've never succeeded in casting a single spell and not getting an explosion," she explained in a self-loathing tone, continuing on her way to her room, "It's why everyone calls me Louise the Zero…"

The angel descendant stopped, watching the pinkette leave with guilt at what he felt was an insensitive comment, even if he didn't mean it to be. In hindsight, he's already determined that what just happened was a fairly regular occurrence. Still, he never imagined that it happened all the time, just often. That didn't stop Alexander for feeling bad about what he said.

_"Sometimes, taking after my dad as much as my mom can really suck,"_ Alexander mused, momentarily; watching as Louise reached the end of the hall and turned to climb the stairs._"Well, this _is_ partially my fault and it's not like it's the first time someone's done this bad with magic. Eleanora still can't make a love potion without destroying a lab after all, and she's a natural born Succubus, rare as they are."_

_"You could always try to teach her some other branch of magic?"_ Salamander suggested helpfully. _"I can tell she has the potential, and unlike your other half-sister she's already well disciplined enough to make use of it too. Plus, you know all the basic theories, so it wouldn't be that hard."_

_"And when I return home? Or when I can no longer teach her anything? What then?"_ Alexander countered, even as he contemplated on the idea.

_"Then teach her something you have a better grasp of,"_ Undine pointed out matter-of-factly. _"You know Onmyōdō and Alchemy up to an intermediate level theory wise, and can even perform the basic practices. And if all else fails, then I think you could probably loan Sylph to her for a while."_

_"I hate to say it, but she's right,"_ the fire spirit agreed with clear reluctance. _"As you are now, you could probably call on the wind without Sylph's help. And when we do go back… does it really matter? Helping her a little is better than not helping at all."_

Alexander hummed as he took their suggestions. It wasn't a bad idea, all in all. A little help can go a long way, as the saying goes. _"Sylph, what's your opinion?"_

_"Well…"_ the wind spirit trailed off in a sing-song tone, _"okay! But only if she can't use the other two styles. Oh! Oh! And she has to… uhh… I don't want to be exploded so I'm not going to challenge her to a fight… then she has to catch me instead!"_

Alex smiled at that; figures that Sylph would be excited about this. _"Alright, we'll go with that plan. For now, I'll need your help to catch up. She's probably already half-way to her room."_

Calling on some of Sylph's power, he caught up to Louise, determined to help her and find a way to make her feel better.

-X-

**Chapter IV Side B: From Mother to Mother**

"Tamamo," the Monster Lord acknowledged as her oldest confidant entered the throne room and kneeled at the foot of the steps to her seat. She had an impassive expression on her face, one that would have fooled most into thinking that she was having a bad day. They'd be half right, as Tamamo was aware, but she was certain that few would be able to tell just how desperate she was for good news. "I trust you've made some considerable progress?"

"Of course, your majesty," the Kitsune Queen answered, her nine tails shifting about as she got back on her feet. She couldn't quite keep her all of her worry out of her tone. Even when speaking about business and politics, Alice never talked to her so formally; not when they were alone, and even when in public, it was rare. _"Don't push the subject yet. Play along and ease her into it first."_

"As you know, we confirmed that the spell which spirited Prince Alexander away was, indeed, interdimensional in nature, two days after his disappearance," the blonde fox recapped. "Just yesterday, we managed to trace back the residual magic energy in the area to the dimension he was brought to, upon which, we had set about trying to find a way to either extract him from our side, or go there to retrieve him."

She paused, reaching into the sleeves of her robe. Moments later, she fished out a medium sized tome of clearly considerable age. "This was the result of our search," Tamamo declared, raising the book up so that her old charge could see it better. "A book written by the Harpy Sage Stolas, presented as a gift after she was defeated by Her late majesty, Alicefeeze Fateburn X during her crowning ceremony. In it is a compilation of all knowledge concerning dimensional travel accumulated over the years ending three hundred and fifty years ago. Though the time period between its writing and the present day is quite long for academic standards, the fact that only two other proven instances of interdimensional travel have ever been recorded within the past three and a half century makes it the most reliable source of information available."

Alice's posture seemed to perk up at that, her mood lifting just the slightest bit. "And you can use this book to retrieve my son?" she asked, a spark of hope in her voice. Tamamo nodded. "How long will it take?"

The blonde fox wanted to smile so badly at having made the silver haired woman just a little happier, but held it back. The rest of her report probably wouldn't be met with such enthusiasm, and it wouldn't do to get her hopes up. "The best method we can find is a ritual that can open a gate into a predetermined world, but it can only be performed in two weeks' time, at the earliest. After that however… it's hard to say," she replied dejectedly as she watched the Echidna's mood deflate. "The ritual itself, though complex, isn't really difficult. However, one of the materials required as a reagent is an active Sesshoseki, which can only be activated during a full moon."

"And the next one is due in two weeks," Alice finished for her, leaning onto one of her throne's armrests and rubbing her head with her hand. She sighed. "Why would it take more than that then?"

The blonde fox didn't answer immediately as she observed the purple skinned woman, her worry now leaking into her features. Truly, being a mother had changed Alice; it changed all women, including Tamamo herself. Or rather, it brought about the core of their nature. This wasn't always a good thing, mind you. A woman who was neglectful in nature could very well become more neglectful once they had children. But that was an issue for another time.

In the end, Alice could never truly let go of what had happened after her mother's death, even if she had given up her twisted plan for atonement. And once her two children had been born, she had cared for them in a manner even those who were on good terms with her had been surprised by.

"Spells which can reach through dimensions require a large amount of power, which was how we ascertained which dimension Prince Alexander was brought to," Tamamo began, having collected her thoughts and formed the best way to go about her explanation. "However, it's also because of that that we weren't able to pinpoint the location of the summoning. The most we could do was isolate the portal's destination to within an area one hundred and fifty kilometers in diameter. Suffice to say, some searching will be required, and we can't even be sure if Alexander stayed within that vicinity."

Neither spoke, once the Kitsune Queen had finished; the diminutive blonde simply choosing to watch Alice's reaction. It was difficult to notice, but despite her age, Tamamo's emerald eyes were still well above most others, monster or human. And so she did notice as the Monster Lord trembled, her right hand, still on her head, tensing every few seconds. A tiny glint between her fingers revealed watery eyes as she held back her tears.

Inwardly, Tamamo was berating herself for teaching her to never shed tears in another's presence. What must it feel like, to think that you may never see your child again? For all her experience in taking in so many young students, even she couldn't fully fathom that thought, having only become a mother herself relatively recently.

"Tamamo," Alice finally called out, trying and failing to quash her trepidation, "Where are Luka and the rest of the Heavenly Knights?"

"Currently, Luka is still in the Royal Library, trying to find something that may allow us to get Alexander back faster. Granberia, Alma Elma and Erubetie are all combing Sentora for the same."

The Monster Lord nodded, still not allowing her face to be seen. "Send out a summons for them," she ordered, sinking into her throne. "We have to decide who to send to retrieve Alexander."

Tamamo stayed put, staring at the silver haired woman with a disapproving frown. "You can't go there yourself," the blonde pointed out, already knowing just what it was her old student had been planning. Alice looked like she was about to retort, but the Kitsune cut her off. "Don't even try to deny it Alice. I raised you until you turned eighteen. Even after becoming the Monster Lord, I continued teaching and advising you to this day. I know how you think Alice."

[Play: www dot youtube dot com / watch?v=XxUFl3lLeXU]

...

...

"Then why stop me?" the Monster Lord questioned, her voice shaking. "If you know how I feel about this then why won't you let me look for my own son!?" she snapped out, her calm demeanor finally breaking.

Despite the evident frustration on the Monster Lord's face, Tamamo remained unfazed. "Because humans and monsters still haven't reached the point of completely understanding each other," she replied, her tone comforting yet firm. "When you gave birth to Alicefeeze and Alexander, you told them that you'd build the world their grandmother wanted so that they could live most of their lives in it. Right now, that dream is closer to coming true than I've ever seen before in all of my life. But even after twenty years of piece, that ideal world is still far from complete."

"Alice, there are still factions on both sides who want to stop you. If you, the Monster Lord were to disappear now, they would do their best to ensure that this campaign of loses all its foundations. You cannot under any circumstances, disappear from this world."

The Kitsune Queen stood firm as she made her reasoning clear, her emerald eyes filled with resolution, gazing intently into Alice's golden orbs that glistened with unshed tears. The silver haired woman's hands clutched the edge of her throne's armrests, gripping tight enough to deform them.

Tamamo knew that look on Alice's face. It was the same look the Echidna used to give her when she wanted to do something, but knew that she couldn't. Not without consequences she herself did not wish to have. It was a rare sight that only the Kitsune Queen, the previous Monster Lord and perhaps Luka had ever borne witness to, but it was also unmistakable.

And then, like a puppet with its strings cut off, Alice's body slumped as she continued to hold back her tears. It became clear as day that the act was making it harder for her, and soon enough, she had to use her hands to cover her face. "I… can't just let him stay there. I… I want to find him... I need to..."

"I know, Alice," said the Kitsune Queen, her old charge suddenly looking up as she reached her hand onto the purple skinned woman's shoulder. "I know," she repeated, smiling tenderly. "I felt the same about your mother once. She went off to travel the world too, when she was young. With your grandmother too busy with her duties as Monster Lord, it fell onto me to watch over her. I may have only gotten a biological daughter thirteen years ago, but that doesn't mean I didn't see any of my old students as something similar."

The blonde monster watched as the silver haired woman's breathing began to calm. Yes, she had her own child now, but regardless of how awkward it made their relationship, she still saw Alice as her own daughter as well. "I can't say I completely understand how you feel," Tamamo continued, "after all, when your mother left, I was at least aware that she left of her own volition. But you shouldn't be worrying yourself like this. Alexander is strong. Alma Elma's been training him for seven years now. Sure, there were those two years he spent away, but even then, he came back stronger. Plus he has all four spirits with him. He'll be fine, and you will see him again. We'll bring him back, I promise."

Tamamo's comforting smile held on as the Echidna allowed her tears to fall for the first in a long time. Alice leaned her head onto the smaller monster's body. Though she stood on the very end of the throne's armrest, the blonde fox did not falter from contact. Gently, she wrapped her arms around Alice's head, rubbing her silver locks with maternal care. "It's alright Alice. We'll find him. Everything will be fine," she whispered gently as an event many would claim as impossible happened right in front of her: the strongest Monster Lord since Alicefeeze Fateburn I cried.


	6. Chapter 5

Due to my inability to come up with good names for large numbers of people, I've reached an agreement with my story consultant (for this fic, anyway), Genocideheart, to use the names he has for many of the canon monsters. Note though, that Knight of the Void is in no way related to his own MGQ fic, short of using the same names.

For those who do not know who Genocideheart is, and are interested in reading more MGQ fics, I highly recommend reading his Monster Girl Saga. At ten chapters (on the day this chapter was published), it currently covers nearly the entire Illias continent arc from part 1, up until Luka meets Tamamo. An AU story where Luka starts off much more skilled and a lot less naïve (still not completely, but it wouldn't be fun if he wasn't naïve at all). However, if you _do_ seek this out, know that it's far more mature (both in concept and content) than my story currently is.

As of this point, the only things in this story which I own are Alexander, Alice XVII (status may be revoked depending on MGQ3's ending, at which point she may officially belong to Torotoro Resistance), and the use of Sesshoseki in the MGQ world (the Sesshoseki itself is a part of Japanese mythology. See if you can figure out what it is before it's explained in this chapter). Everything else belongs to their original creators.

This chapter was meant to be longer, but I felt it got too bulky after hitting the 10000 words mark, so I split it into two halves. Hope you like this one.

**Chapter V: Valuable Acquaintances Part-1**

"I can understand shopping for supplies on the Day of Void…" Louise whispered as she leaned over towards her familiar. Not an easy feat, considering they were both on horseback. "But try as I might, I simply can't figure out the answer to the simple question of 'why are we doing this again?'"

Taking a deep breath, Alexander sighed, partly due to annoyance, but mostly out of exhaustion. "The reason we are doing this is the same as the reason for everything that we've done over the past three days."

The petite mage resisted the urge to twitch. She really did. Because in the end, she wasn't certain how the factor that was making this trip so odd was truly significant to her cause. Still, she had to ask…

"That much I understand," she conceded, "what I _do not_ understand is how bringing a maid along could in any way be related to helping me cast spells properly?" she questioned, eyes staring pointedly at the black haired woman who was riding -read, flailing on- a third horse, opposite of Alex. "And furthermore, where on earth did you even get the money to rent three horses from the school? You have none of this world's currency and the only jewelry you currently have on you is that ring," she pointed out, glancing at the band of white metal on his right index finger.

At first, Alex could only blink in surprise and confusion, then realization seemed to dawn on him and he began to laugh lightly; it made Louise feel embarrassed for some reason. "To begin with," he started, reigning in his amusement, "I'd like to point out that _I do_ have another piece of jewelry on me. Seven more, actually, if you consider the six detachable jewels as separate from the necklace," Alexander corrected her, tapping just below the neckline of his sleeveless Enrikan shirt. A small bump, slightly smaller than an average man's thumb appeared briefly as Alexander pressed down on the garment. "The horses were easy though. Most of the Academy's support staff thinks really highly of me. All I had to do was promise to help at the stable at a later date and they gave me the two for free."

Louise reared back, staring at the silver haired teen incredulously. _"What kind of prince would lower himself to do that?"_ she asked in her head, not fully believing that he'd actually go through with it.

Alexander just kept his eyes on the road, completely ignoring her reaction. "As for the maid… well Ms. Erdrick here isn't actually related to your… predicament. Rather, I decided to bring her along because Head Chef Marteau told me of a delicious dish that his old mentor, her grandfather had fed him; a family secret recipe, apparently. I got curious and asked Ms. Erdrick about it and she said she was willing to cook it for me, but the ingredients needed were only allowed to be used in preparing the nobles' food. They quickly decided to have her go shopping for them. The head maid; a caring old soul if I ever saw one, said that the market place in the capital wasn't a place for commoner girls like her to go to alone. As such, I decided to bring her along so she can procure the ingredients she requires without worry."

If Louise was the one walking, she was certain that she would've been left behind by now. That is, if her mind could process the fact that the rest of her was frozen as she stared blankly at Alexander. _"I'm beginning to change my mind about how good it is to have him as my familiar,"_ she thought to herself, only barely keeping her irritation off her face. It was to her good fortune that her body was so well attuned to horse riding that she didn't actually need to focus on it to stay on her mount.

She'd soon enough inferred that the silver haired prince's appreciation for food was second to none. Why, he'd even said that he might convince his mother to grant the title of duke upon the head chef of the Academy just for his ability to cook! Truly, the picture of his world painted by all the things she'd learned from Alexander was one with a very odd culture.

But in the end, the pinkette could do little about it. As things stood, she was beginning to doubt that the silver haired teen was truly a prince. No, actually, she'd never completely believed him; her doubts had simply grown from the negligible passing thought it used to be. Yet despite her uncertainty, he possessed the power, mannerism and knowledge of proper decorum to uphold his claim. Even if he was lying about his royal lineage, it would be impossible to call him a commoner and since she had effectively kidnapped him, it wouldn't do to lash out needlessly. Not unless she knew more.

Fortunately, conversation seemed to die down after Alexander's explanation, so Louise didn't have to worry about any other headaches pertaining to her familiar's strange behavior. The maid, Siesta, Louise had learned, had gotten used to riding her horse about a quarter ways through, which let them move faster. The black haired commoner looked like she wanted to speak, but the concentration she was putting on her riding and Louise's presence seemed to deter her.

It gave the pinkette some time to think over her predicament. The past three days after her most recent failure had been… interesting, to say the least. Alexander had begun tutoring her to write in a strange language which he'd called Yamataean, which used an alphabet composing of characters known as kanji. Though skeptical at first, when he said it might help her cast spells properly, she'd folded and took the chance. Thus far, she'd memorized how to write the characters for all four major elements by heart.

"Hm?" Alex's sudden hum brought Louise out of her stupor.

They'd made it about halfway to Tristainia when Alexander's head darted to look up at the sky, over his shoulder; his eyes narrowed. "Is something the matter?" the pinkette asked him curiously, a tingle of worry creeping up her spine. But he shook his head and reassured her that there was no problem. Unsatisfied, Louise looked over her own shoulder up at the cloudy sky, only to find nothing there but a small speck in the sky; a bird, most likely.

-X-

"Papers, a paintbrush and ink?" Louise questioned Alexander as she looked at the large pile of stationary he'd collected. "I thought you were trying to help me with my magic. Why did we buy these things?" She continued, her patience beginning to thin.

Alexander raised his hands in a placating manner. "_I am_ trying to help you. This is just the one way to go about it," he said, his tone relaxed as he helped Siesta pile the scrolls and bottles into bags that could be loaded on their horses later. "Just trust me Ms. Vallière, you will understand everything soon enough," he assured with a knowing smile, only for it to melt away into a wistful frown. "Things _would_ be easier if we managed to acquire a Sesshoseki though, but considering my… less than desirable circumstances, obtaining one is likely impossible."

The pinkette suppressed the urge to wince at the reminder of what she'd done. Instead, she blinked in puzzlement; something which she'd noticed had become quite a habit as of late. "Sesho-what? What is that, some magic reagent from your… homeland?" she inquired, choosing her words carefully. A short glance to the other side of the other teen revealed that the maid was listening in far too carefully for her to say anything too suspicious.

Alexander hummed contemplatively; weaving around each of them with barely a thought as they made their exit. "You could say that," he started, "_Sesshoseki,_" he said, emphasizing the name, "are jewel like objects crafted from the bones of Kitsune tails."

"Kitsune?" it was the maid who spoke this time with a look of contemplation on her face, as though she was trying to remember something.

"A race of magical vulpine creatures capable of drawing power from the moon," Alexander replied, turning towards her. "They're born with one tail, like ordinary foxes, but grow more as their power increases until they reach the maximum of nine."

"And these… Seshoseki are able to do the same?" Louise inquired, seeking confirmation of her deduction. "Drawing power from the moon, I mean," she added as an afterthought.

"_Ses_shoseki," Alexander repeated, stressing the first syllable of the name as his attention whirled back towards the pinkette. "And yes, they do, and much more than that. In the village of Yamatai, when a kitsune dies, their bodies are cremated in a special ceremony which even turns most of their bones to dust; the only exception being the tailbones. These instead turn into something akin to marble."

"From there, these bones can be used for in all sorts of ways," the silver haired teen continued. "They can be used to add stored power to a ritual or spell, act like any other reagent, allow mages to use forms of magic that would otherwise be inaccessible to them and even be forged into weapons. Granted, due to the failsafe curse on them, the latter two occurs very rarely."

"And this curse would be?" Louise queried, paying rapt attention to the Alexander's words. He'd actually had to pull her away from a collision with street vendor's stall before responding.

"One you _really_ don't want to befall you," Alex said, a serious expression etched on his face. "I don't think I even need to say this, but there are a lot people who'd want to get their hands on a Sesshoseki; not all of them for benevolent reasons. Add to this the facts that Kitsune have an exceedingly long lifespan and that the people of Yamatai consider the Kitsune to be deities; it only makes sense that they'd place some sort of precaution on them."

"That still doesn't answer my question."

Alexander sighed, apparently hoping that that would've been the end of their conversation. Louise wasn't having any of it though. She wanted to know everything there was to know about these Sesshoseki he spoke of. Their origin sounded much like something from pagan lore… but they didn't exist in her world, so it wasn't like learning about them was wrong… was it?

"Very well, Ms. Vallière; if you truly wish to know then I will tell you," he responded with a grave face. "The curse in question is one concerning proper ownership, which is cast upon each Kitsune once they grow their second tail. It makes it so that the Sesshoseki from that particular Kitsune can only be used by its true owners. In other words, the initial owners are those who cared for the Kitsune until it the end of its natural lifespan, and the only way for ownership to pass on is for the Sesshoseki to be willingly given away. Those who try to use it without being its owner or having the owner's blessing receive a sort of magical backlash. The magnitude depends on the power stored within the specific Sesshoseki. At high enough levels it can even kill the oppressor. This curse ultimately became their namesake: Sesshoseki or 'Killing Stone'."

Louise couldn't quite help but gulp by the end of his explanation, her eyes widening. Such curses existed of course, she knew of that. But they were very rare, mostly due to the difficulty required to prepare for the ritual to cast it. As far as she knew, only the heirlooms of the royal families were protected by anything similar. If that was really the case concerning these Sesshoseki, then she was actually glad that they wouldn't be able to find any. Still… maybe having one rightfully given to her… might be useful.

"Heh…"

The sound of muffled amusement from her familiar drew the pinkette's eyes towards him. Contrary to his grave demeanor just moments before, Alexander's golden orbs now held a glint of amusement; apparently at her expense.

"And just what do you find so funny?" she questioned, scowling deeply. No doubt the heat from her face was from equal parts anger and embarrassment, and Louise was certain her flustered visage made Alex all the more amused. Really, there was only so much Louise could take before lashing out at Alexander, prince or no, and she was reaching her limit.

"Nothing, Ms. Vallière," he said, "It's just that… I've noticed that you really don't take any precautions when it comes to learning magic. I didn't really expect such determination from you when we first met. You clearly fear the Sesshoseki, yet I also see a small desire for one in your eyes. For most, I'd say it was a thirst for power but… well… my instinct tells me that you aren't that kind of person. And my instinct's never wronged me before when it comes to judging someone."

The pink haired girl felt her face heating up even more as she sputtered briefly, widening the taller teen's smirk. In her flustered state, she found it rather difficult to form a response. Fortunately, it was at that time when the maid decided to speak up once more.

"We're here!" the black haired young woman announced, bringing both Louise and Alexander's attention towards the street in to their left. At about four feet wide it was probably the second widest street in Tristainia. Both sides were lined with stall after stall, from one end to the other and possibly beyond filled with vendors selling all sorts of products. Meats, fruits, vegetables and even kitchenware and cutlery were being bargained left and right between merchants and customers.

"Ah, excellent," Alex remarked, grinning widely, "I do hope they have some fresh and tasty fruits here. The trip's made me quite hungry." He turned towards his pink haired summoner, just as he began to follow the maid who had already gone to the nearest vegetable vendor. "Are you coming Ms. Vallière?"

Suddenly standing stiff, the pinkette looked all around her, hoping to find a place for her to stay for the duration of their market detour. The maid seemed to have carried her own money, so she really wasn't needed to pay for anything. Plus, it really wouldn't do for her to be seen in the market street.

And as luck would have had it, there was a well decorated tavern just a few buildings away, already with some other nobles -likely those of much lower ranks- entering in; many of whom seeming to separate with their own servants after giving them instructions. The building might not have been up to her standards, but it was fairly furbished as far as she could see, and certainly better than being in a market. Why a prince would go there himself, she really wasn't sure. But that was his choice.

"I'll be in that tavern over there," Louise pointed at the sign hanging in front of the building. "Try to finish as soon as possible," she requested, walking away.

Alexander hummed approvingly. "I'll try not to dawdle. See you later, Ms. Vallière. And do be careful."

The petite mage nodded silently; not quite able to suppress another blush as she imagined the silver haired prince smiling that same smile which never failed to get to her. _"Damn that foreign prince! Why must he be so… so… urgh,"_ her mind ground out in words only she could hear.

-X-

_"I must say, I'm impressed, Alex. You've proven yourself quite skilled in deception as of late,"_ Salamander's voice rang within the half monster's head; complimenting and amused.

_"Deception would imply that I lied,"_ Alexander responded, outwardly maintaining his carefree smile as he followed after Siesta, occasionally reaching out to grab the bags which contained her latest purchase. _"I've not told a single lie since coming to this world… or the few years preceding it, for that matter."_

_"Hn… True as that may be, I actually have to agree with Salamander on her assessment,"_ Undine joined in, her voice as calm and gentle as ever… that is to say, when she wasn't arguing with the elemental spirit of fire. _"You may not have lied at all, but you've certainly done quite well when it comes to omitting parts of the truth."_

_"You can thank Lady Tamamo for that,"_ the silver haired teen replied. _"For all that I dislike the less savory aspects of politics and the lessons needed for it; it does have its uses. I do regret saying things the way I did. To anyone privy to the truth, it would've sounded insulting to Ms. Vallière, Ms. Erdrick and the Kitsune tribe as a whole. Still, I'm not fully certain about the status of monsters in this world. It's probably best that they don't learn the truth."_

_"Eh? But won't they find out when someone finally comes to get you?"_ Sylph pointed out, her voice ever curious.

_"I trust that whoever will get me will remain disguised,"_ Alex thought back. _"And if anything does happen, it wouldn't be too hard to keep it under the rug until we manage to return. At worst, it can be made to look like I was abducted by monsters. No big deal, and not exactly a lie, either."_

"Umm… Mr. Fateburn?"

Alexander's attention returned to the outer world as Siesta's call reached his ears. He'd only noticed now, but the two of them seemed to have come to a stop near a few fish mongers. Still, that fact barely took precedence in his head as something else about the situation clicked in his head. "Ms. Erdrick, please," the silver haired teen half groaned, "I've told you already: just call me Alex. Alexander, even. You don't have to use formalities."

A light flush coloured the young woman's cheeks, her eyes looking at everywhere but at him; her expression showing clear embarrassment. "That's… umm… not really fair, Mr. Fateburn. If you're going to refer to me by my family name, then I have to return the courtesy. It's only right."

"Oh?" the silver haired teen's brow furrowed as his expression changed to one of thoughtfulness; head tilting to the side ever so slightly. He contemplated her rebuttal for a moment before smiling once more, wider this time. "I suppose you're right," the angel descendant conceded, "If that is the case, I do hope you don't mind me calling you Siesta hmm?"

All at once, the maid's face brightened; her own smile gracing her features, though her blush didn't fade entirely. "Of course not!" she replied enthusiastically, before seeming to catch herself. Her beaming visage turned into a sheepish grin not much later, laughing awkwardly as she reined in her apparent excitement. "Err… that is… as long as you're fine just being called Alex."

Alexander let out a chuckle of amusement in response. "I would like that," he said, not even mentioning that it was what he'd wanted in the first place. No need to embarrass the staff member any further, after all. "Now… what was it you were about to ask me earlier?"

"Huh?" Siesta blinked, looking confused before realization seemed to dawn on her, and she rubbed the back of her head. In the end, it seemed Alexander still managed to embarrass her. "Ah, right," she started, recalling the question she'd wanted to ask earlier. "Well, my grandfather's recipe originally called for a specific fish, but since it was only found in his homeland, it's been adapted to incorporate substitutes. Is there any specific fish you like? "

Alexander fixated the maid with a curious look, glancing occasionally to the side at the selection of marine life; some on display with many others still alive in barrels and even a few tanks. "What's your budget?" he finally asked, getting a negative headshake in response.

"The head chef Marteau gave me enough money to buy any ingredients I needed," Siesta explained. "Even though he isn't a noble, his position means he makes as much money as some lower rank nobles do every month. He said that if it meant giving you a good meal, money was no object."

The silver haired teen could only blink blankly at the maid as her words registered in his head. The way she described it, it almost sounded like…

_"Heheh… sounds like someone has a crush on you Lexie,"_ Sylph sing-songed in his head. It took a good portion of his willpower not to twitch.

_"Gnome… just this once."_

_"..."_

_*THWAK* "Geh!"_

Coming back to the real world, Alexander quickly composed himself. "If that's the case, then I'll go with whatever you recommend. My palette isn't particularly picky as long as the food is really good."

"Oh… okay then. Blue Marlin it is."

With that, Siesta began to look around the area, searching for one which sold the oceanic fish. Alexander just continued following her; this time more focused on what was in front of him than the entities in his head.

-X-

Half an hour later, Alexander found himself walking out of the market with a satisfied look on his face. All the ingredients Siesta bought were the freshest and finest in the market, and he couldn't wait to the dish she'd promised him. But first, they had to meet back with his summoner, after that they'd have to make a beeline to the stables near the edge of the city.

_*grumble*_

Or at least that was Alex's original plan. Given that his stomach was starting to grumble, it would probably be best if they stopped for a light lunch. Or as most other people would call it: lunch. Then they'd make the three hour trip back to the academy.

_"You know, you could just teleport,"_ Undine pointed out as Alex and Siesta approached the end of the Market's street. The silver haired teen resisted the urge to shake his head in disagreement.

_"Normally, that would be fine, but with those three following us…"_

_"Better to see who they are first before showing your hand eh?"_ Salamander finished for him, already catching onto his train of thought. _"That's probably for the best."_

_"Indeed. Sylph, anything yet?"_

"_They feel familiar, but I just can't recognize them properly,"_ the wind spirit replied, her tone giving Alexander the picture of a particularly peeved fae. _"Before, they were too far away to properly tell. Now there are too many people packed around to distinguish. It's really annoying."_

The bell by the door of the tavern rung as Alexander pushed it open, his golden eyes scanning the room for a head of pink hair. "Oh, you're finally back," Louise noted, both of them apparently spotting each other at the same time. "Perfect timing; you managed to get everything you needed right?" she asked with a hint of impatience.

Alexander glanced over his shoulder in response, looking at Siesta for an answer. She nodded with a cheerful smile. "That would be a yes," the silver haired teen answered, facing Louise once more.

The petite mage released a sigh of relief as she stood up. "Good, that means we can go back to the academy now." So saying that, she marched right passed them and out of the building, urging them to follow.

The way Louise acted managed to surprise Alexander somewhat, although he would've agreed wholeheartedly under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, there was one factor which changed everything entirely, and he wasn't the least bit afraid to make it known. And so he chased her in a brisk walk, catching up to the shorter teen as she made it half way passed the next building.

"Hold on a second Ms. Vallière," Alex spoke with a treble of authority in his voice. The pink haired girl stopped, turning to regard the angel descendant who stood imposingly behind her. "You've already eaten brunch, but neither Ms. Erdrick nor I have even had breakfast yet. That' hardly fair," he said; his face grim as though telling her that Louise that she'd just committed a grave crime.

Louise could only look at him blankly, blinking occasionally as though waiting for Alexander's expression to shift. When it remained unchanged for two whole minutes, she realized he was, in fact, very serious about this matter. She also realized that they were starting to get a few odd looks from people passing by, and that she really should have expected this.

With a frustrated sigh, the petite mage gave in. "Just not there though," she added as a condition. Alexander nodded with a beaming face.

"Wouldn't have even thought of it," he said, eyeing the building disapprovingly despite his expression. "The food there might look and taste good for those used to them, but there's no doubt that the chefs there are inept at their vocation."

Louise looked at him quizzically, looking surprised at his evaluation. "Umm… that wasn't exactly my main reason, and their incompetence was hardly their worst fault but… how could you tell?"

Alexander scoffed in response, a confident smirk forming on his face. "Many people of high status have gained a palette for judging the quality of food through taste and texture," he pointed out; the petite mage not finding anything in to argue against in his words. Then, he continued on as though boasting: "_I_ however, have refined my palette to the point where I can taste food from its scent alone, if I so wished, and discern its qualities just the same."

Louise found herself staring blankly at him again, blinking a few times before promptly giving up and just sighing in frustration. "Let's just go find somewhere else to eat," she suggested listlessly, slumping for reasons which escaped the silver haired teen in front of her.

"Ah! Actually, I think I might know somewhere we can go to eat." Siesta's reserved voice caught both Alexander and his summoner's attention; the two of them turning to face the maid who apparently had been standing between them and to the side. To Alexander, this fact took a backseat to what she'd just announced.

"Where do you have in mind? How does the food there compare to Head Chef Marteau's cooking? Do they have coffee? What kind of dishes do they serve?" the silver haired teen began interrogating her with an intense look in his eyes.

Siesta backed up a few steps, looking a little unnerved by the verbal barrage. "Err… it's my uncle's inn, actually," she started answering, which seemed to pacify the intensity of Alexander's stare, somewhat. "And… umm… we don't serve any coffee but… the food _is_ really good. And uh… Ah! If you want, we could even make grandpa's specialty. Between me and my cousin, we should be able to get it ready within the hour!"

Siesta's eyes were shut as a beaming smile graced her face. As such, she could be forgiven for not noticing a key aspect in her surroundings yet. Louise, however, did notice it, and was quick to react. "You don't even know where her uncle's inn is!" the pinkette shouted after the now running Alexander, but the silver haired teen only continued to leave a trail of dust; weaving, jumping and even wall hopping in a manic bid to reach his destination.

"Yeah, that's great, I'll meet you both there!" he shouted back, completely ignoring Louise's protests as he disappeared from view.

With a heavy sigh of resignation, the young noble recovered her wits and turned to face the still surprised maid. "Come on then," she said, breaking the taller girl out of her stupor, "let's just go to this inn already. Trying to catch up with him would be useless now." So saying, the pinkette gestured for the adolescent maid to take the lead.

-X-

As he'd promised, Alexander met them in front of the inn Siesta claimed to belong to her uncle. How he'd found it, Louise wasn't particularly sure. She was sure that she probably didn't want to hear his explanation and that even if she did, there probably wouldn't have been much sense in his answer. As such, Louise had simply indulged in another of her most recent habits and sighed, resigning herself to her fate as the three of them walked through the inn's doors.

A chorus of welcomes sounded upon their arrival as about a dozen young women wearing risqué waitress uniforms in a blend of colours greeted them before going back to serving the customers already present. The silver haired prince hummed contemplatively, bringing Louise's attention to him. His eyes seemed to be moving from one of the waitresses to another as though analyzing each one. The sight of it made her fume.

"What do you think you're doing?" she ground out, trying to keep as much of her anger out of her voice.

"Just checking to see if there are actually any fairies around here," Alex replied, completely nonplused by Louise's badly failed attempt, staggering her thoughts of indignation in the process. "I'll admit, they certainly have the 'Charming' part down. But for this inn's sake, they'd better hope that a law against false advertisement is never made."

Staying a bit behind the young prince, Louise's twitch went unnoticed. _"Every time… every _single _time I expect him to act in some way or another, he always does something completely nonsensical. What kind of twisted world does he come from?"_

"Eh! Is that you Siesta!?" One of the waitresses called out excitedly as she spotted the maid.

"Jessica!" Siesta greeted back with the same enthusiasm, half running towards the waitress. Upon further inspection, it was easy to see that the two were related: they were the only ones in the inn with black hair, for one; a rare trait in Halkeginia.

The two raven haired women met halfway with a deep hug that did wonders for their… assets, causing a round of cheers to erupt from the inn's patrons, celebrating their reunion… at least that's what they claimed. Any idiot could see that while they were genuinely happy, it wasn't because the two relatives' reunion. In fact, Louise was completely certain that none of them even knew how the two were acquainted and just as many didn't care.

"I take it this is your cousin then?" Alexander said, walking up to the two as they separated. He gave a friendly smile towards the longer haired commoner when Jessica turned to regard him. "Good morning Ms… hmm… I assume your last name isn't Erdrick like Siesta's…" he trailed off at his greeting; Louise's brow rose in curiosity at how he addressed the maid. She never once heard him address anyone informally… well, except Guiche, but even then, he'd taken to calling him Mr. Gramont after their duel.

"Oh?" the waitress reacted with the slightest amount of surprise, and good amount of amusement right after. "And why would you assume that?" she asked, leaning in slightly towards Alex and giving a better view of her cleavage in the process.

If the silver haired prince noticed her actions, then he certainly hid it well; his eyes remaining steadily upon her visage. "Siesta says that you know how to cook a dish exclusive to her family. By contrast, though she's mentioned your father, she's not made any mention about him being aware of the recipe himself. I can only assume then, that you are related to Siesta through your mother. As such it is unlikely for you to share the same family name," Alexander explained his deduction to her, a spark of amusement coming to his eyes. "And speaking of names, I do believe I'm being rude. Alexander Fateburn, pleased to meet you." The young prince held out his hand as a form of greeting.

Jessica's surprise held for longer this time, but it too cracked into a smile soon after as she stood straight up; her hand reaching for Alex's as she introduced herself. "Jessica Fae, manager and depending on the time, waitress or chef of the Charming Fairies inn. The pleasure's all mine."

Once more, the raven haired waitress' expression became one of surprise as, rather than shaking her hand as expected; Alexander had instead brought it up to his face and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckle. Her shock was soon joined by a deep flush as she looked at what was no doubt a very charming and confident smile. Suffice to say, Jessica wasn't the only one astonished by Alex's bold actions.

In fact, it looked like Siesta was the only one unfazed by it, as she laughed to herself; sheepish and barely audible. "He did that when I introduced myself too," she commented, "in fact, that's how he greeted all the female staff members at the academy; even the head maid."

"Eh? Really?" Jessica asked in wonder, her face still a bit red, even though her hand had been relinquished. At the maid's confirmation, she turned to regard Alexander once more; this time with a toothy smirk. "My, you must be quite the charmer," she complimented him, earning an amused chuckle in response.

"Not at all," Alexander denied her comment. "I simple do what a true gentleman should do when greeting a lady. Regardless of their status," he explained, adding the final statement in as an afterthought.

"That just enforces my opinion even more," she countered, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as she giggled. Her eyes drifted to Louise's position, examining her for a moment before going back to her cousin with a somewhat more serious visage. "Pleasantries aside, to what do I owe this visit, Siesta?"

"Ah, right. Actually, I promised Alex that I would cook him Grandfather's special dish," Siesta replied, her tone becoming sheepish. "Originally, I planned to prepare it back at the academy, but since it was nearing lunch time and we were getting rather hungry, I was hoping that-"

"Say no more!" Jessica cut her off, her hands resting on the shorter haired commoner's shoulder. "I take it you've procured all the ingredients?" Siesta nodded in response. "Then let's get to work! My shift's nearly over anyway. Plus, it would be nice to eat Grandfather's dish again. I haven't had the time to make it for a while, but with you here, we should be able to make enough for at least six by lunch."

She turned towards Alexander once more, and then looked past him to Louise again. "Will the young lady over there be joining us as well?" she asked. Siesta and Alexander both directed their attention towards petite mage.

Louise's brow rose at the invitation, but hid her surprise with a look of contemplation. Finally, she made a show of sighing tiredly and nodded her head. "Very well, I suppose. I didn't really eat much at that other place. The food was entirely too bland for my taste. I just hope that this will be much better."

Evidently, the raven haired cousins found what she just said funny, sharing barely restrained laughter as they head for the door leading to the kitchen. "Believe me young miss," Jessica started, just as they opened the door on the other end of the bottom floor, "once you've gotten a taste of our Grandfather's Rahab on the Mountain, you'll be glad you decided to eat with us."

As they departed from view, and Louise grumbled at the joke the two commoners derived at her expense, no one noticed the way Alexander's eyes widened.


	7. Chapter 6

I do not own either MGQ or Zero no Tsukaima.

This chapter is dedicated to the late Noboru Yamaguchi, in the hopes that the humor within it will show people that, despite the fandom's great loss, his legacy will still live on within us. That no matter what happens; his work will always entertain people for years to come. I hope you all enjoy.

**Chapter VI: Valuable Acquaintances Part-2**

A ten year old Alexander walked across the halls of Remina's memorial site. Though not very big, the single story building was still often visited by humans after the war from twenty years ago. It had quickly become a popular attraction in New Remina after the truth behind the Slaughter of Remina had become general knowledge. The structure itself was like a shrine, with a mural at the center commemorating all those who were killed that day; known and unknown. Around the main building were hallways decorated with various commemorative artworks.

From paintings and sculptures to weapons, armors and clothing contributed by humans and monsters alike; each of them styled to evoke familiarity with the once great city. Many were works of artisans whose roots stemmed from the town. Some were made according to the accounts of those who had visited or lived in Remina before its destruction. Others still were from those who had been from or had visited Remina themselves.

Often, it was the latter of the three which stood most impressive, and not only because they were made according to the personal accounts of those who had once lived in Remina. At best, such people were currently in their mid-sixties, giving them quite a lot of experience in their respective crafts, allowing them to depict the ruined city's memories better than any other.

Alexander was currently looking over one such work. Well, actually, it would've been more accurate to call it a gallery, but the very first painting was what originally gained his attention. It was probably as tall as him and nearly twice as wide. It depicted a building filled with diners that could be seen from the windows; with a few more filled tables just outside. Whenever their faces were clear, all the humans and monsters could be seen with wide smiles as they ate their meals. In the background of it all was a giant, avian monster girl, smiling happily as she was fed.

Both on the restaurant's signboard and on the painting's frame, the words 'The Gourmet Garuda' were proudly emblazoned. The plaque just below it confirmed that it was, in fact, a restaurant. One which served what the artist claimed to be the most delicious foods he'd ever had the pleasure to taste; a greatly missed part of his childhood. And indeed, the whole of the gallery was dedicated to The Gourmet Garuda. Paintings of food, happy customers, and happy customers eating their food made up the rest of the dozen works. Naturally, it was the four from the first category which took most of his attention.

The four greatest delicacies to be served in The Gourmet Garuda; each one said to have existed since Remina was established after Black Alice's reign, passed down only through a single family line for as long as their existence. Many had claimed them so delicious that even the original four great monsters who stood guard on the four points of Sentora would go to the utmost extremes merely to have a taste.

Phoenix of the Sea: The ultimate appetizer named after the Phoenix that once lived in Gold Volcano. A soup made using the Fire Mountain Quail -a species only found and bred at the foot of Gold Volcano- for stock and meat. It was known to utilize a combination of herbs and spices to reach the perfect combination of heat, sweetness and acidity. It would make its consumer feel like they were breathing fire like a dragon, only to sooth their mouths the next instant, making it feel better than ever.

Sphinx's Blizzard: The greatest of all desserts, taking its name from the mother of Sabasa. A mixture of desert fruits and camel milk, frozen with ice from the mountains of Noah, forming an Ice Cream of the greatest quality; so enticing that it had reportedly been given the official nickname of "Children's Frozen Dream".

Ryōjin in the Dessert: A beverage said to be the nectar of heaven and hell alike; favored and named after the great water dragon of Yamatai during her last century of life. The most mysterious amongst the four crowns of the Gourmet Garuda, all that is known about it is that every ingredient constituting it was obtained from the middle regions of Sentora.

And last but not least, Rahab on the Mountains: The largest dish of if the four, named in honour of the original queen of the southern sea. A fish and vegetable dish utilizing native Natalian greens and the Sapphire Marlin inhabits the 'skyline' of the South Sea Temple. Sweet, sour, and with fish that practically melts in your mouth from its tenderness, combined with perfectly rendered skin, and fresh vegetables to heighten the experience.

-X-

Alexander stared down at the dish before him. The shape of the three fish fillets, the color of the sauce, the types of herbs and vegetables and how they provided a bed for the fish. It was as though that painting from six years ago came to life right in front of his eyes. He honestly didn't know what was more unbelievable: that this dish was actually sitting there ready for him to eat it, or how absolutely perfect the artist who painted that picture from so long ago could depict it after so long.

A single strong whiff changed all that. The visual alone was enough to whet his appetite greater than any dish he'd eaten before, which was saying a lot. The scent of it however was nearly euphoric to his honed senses. There was no mistaking the quality of this culinary feat set for him to feast upon.

Despite that, he still had his doubts, ordinarily negligible as they were. But this wasn't an ordinary situation. Not to Alex. This involved a dish that was said to have been one of the four most delicious in existence. Even his mother had expressed great sorrow when he'd brought the topic up with her once.

He needed to taste it -not through its scent, but its actual taste- to truly be sure; to see whether or not it truly was that legendary dish. The artist who painted the tributes to The Gourmet Garuda had gone through great lengths to fully describe the taste and texture of each dish in the best way he could, and now his efforts were about to be put to great use. _"I must remember to reward him once I return,"_ the silver haired teen thought to himself as he began cutting the fish with his knife.

A gentle stab of his fork brought about nearly inaudible crunch of lightly cooked fresh vegetables. Feeling great anticipation, Alexander raised the small portion to his mouth, allowing his taste buds to judge it. The fork he used barely made an inch away before he dropped the utensil; his eyes wide and his jaw threatening to drop. It was only because of the fact that his food would fall out if he did which prevented the occurrence.

-X-

Jessica's eyes gained a curious gleam as the young man whom her cousin had invited to eat with them took the first bite from his meal. Very few had ever gotten to taste one of their grandfather's four great dishes. In fact, this was the first time a noble would ever get to try it.

As soon as Alexander tasted the first morsel, he seemed to freeze in place, eyes widening beyond what they should naturally be capable of. The waitress couldn't help but smile in triumph. Rahab on the Mountains never failed to get that reaction from first timers.

It wasn't just Jessica who noticed though. Both her cousin and the young noble girl with them were looking at him. In front of the petite mage was another Rahab on the Mountains, thus far untouched. "You're… uh… Alexander… are you alright?" she stuttered her inquiry, much to the waitress' surprise and confusion.

But Alexander didn't seem to hear her, looking to be lost in thought as he stared down at his plate. "By Forneus' false phallus… this is the real thing…" he muttered.

"By who's false _what!?_" the noble girl questioned disgustedly, her face shaped into an incredulous stare. The two raven haired commoners were similarly blinking at Alex, not really sure how to react to his odd and vulgar statement.

"Siesta, Jessica," the silver haired teen suddenly called out to the cousins, his voice eerily void of all emotions. "You're grandfather, where did he come from?"

Siesta and Jessica looked at him oddly at first, not really sure why he was asking; their eyes occasionally shifting to the side where Louise was scowling for being ignored.

"Umm… no one but him is really sure, and most don't believe he's telling the truth," the waitress and cook replied, being the first to gain her courage in front of the clearly irate noble. A pair of golden orbs turned to stare directly into her eyes; calm, composed and demanding. For some reason, it made her feel as though she was staring into the eyes of a great snake, ready to devour her whole should the rest of her answer disappoint. "Err… he often says that he's from a place called… uh… Ramu… no…. err… Rima…"

"_Remina?_" the silver haired teen provided. That one word alone, coming from his mouth, sounded as though it carried a great weight.

The robust waitress perked up at the word. "Yes, that's it! He said he was from a place called Remina, in a continent called… uhh… Hellgondo!" Jessica finished, nodding her head once, before suddenly blinking. "Wait… how did you know that name?" she asked her own question, her attention focusing back onto her cousin's guest.

Alexander didn't answer; merely staring at his food with a contemplative expression on his face. It unnerved and annoyed the robust brunette somewhat, but she held her tongue for fear of having that overwhelming pressure from earlier coming down on her again.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that the silver haired teen sighed, his body visibly relaxing before picking up his eating utensils once more. "Siesta, Ms. Fae, forgive me for asking something so private, both before, and now, but I absolutely must know: is your grandfather still alive?"

The raven haired cousins stared at him oddly before sharing a brief glance with each other. It was certainly an odd question, but he seemed to have some reason for it. An urgent one, at that. From the look in her eyes it was clear that Siesta trusted him, and she wasn't one to trust in the wrong people, regardless of their masks. At once, they turned to regard the patiently waiting Alex and answered with a synchronized nod.

His golden eyes shifted down at his food and back up as he nodded in return. "Good, I had hoped that was the case," he commented with a small smile, cutting off and picking up another portion of fish and fresh vegetables from his plate. "Tell me, would it at all be too much to ask for you to send him a message for me?"

The pair blinked, looking the young man over with their curious gaze. All the while, he did nothing but eat, moaning in approval every now and then at the taste in his mouth. That wasn't too odd though; they'd seen the same reaction dozens of times. "Uh… sure," Siesta finally answered.

"Excellent," Alex replied appreciatively, having finished swallowed another bit of food. "In that case, please tell him that the progeny of Alicefeeze Fateburn XVI would like to meet him one day. Hmm… in fact," he turned towards the pink haired noble girl, her confused eyes solely focused on him now. "Ms. Vallière, how long until your next break from school? And for that matter, do you have any plans concerning how to spend it?"

The petite mage gave him a confused look, only to shake it off and give her reply. "There's a three week vacation coming up in about a month," she informed Alex, her tone completely calm despite her clearly annoyed mood. "I didn't really have anything in mind for the occasion though. I take it you wish to visit the village where these two are from?" the pink haired girl asked, nudging her head briefly towards the maid and her cousin.

"If that is fine with you, Ms. Vallière," Alexander replied. "I am your familiar, after all. It wouldn't do at all to leave your side to do something which can be put off for a more preferable time. Nor would it be suitable to get you in trouble with your school."

The young noble grumbled at his request, but still nodded in acceptance of her familiar's request. Alexander's smile widened somewhat at her answer, but he said nothing more, merely going back to eating his meal.

All at once, a feeling of tension none of the girls had noticed before seemed to lift from the room. They looked amongst each other and towards the only male in the Inn's staff dining room. After not receiving any verbal response short of a compliment to their dish, they ultimately decided to let the matter drop. Besides, the food was starting to get cold.

-X-

Louise sighed in contentment as soon as she swallowed the last morsel of her meal. It took all of her will power to maintain her posture with how good she felt. "That… was the best fish I've ever eaten in my life." She wasn't normally one to give out compliments, but that Rahab on the Mountains really deserved it. And it was a recipe that came from Alexander's world? If that was the case, she could definitely understand his appreciation for food. Not completely, granted, but still much better than before.

Taking a short moment to savor the flavors still left dancing in her mouth, the youngest daughter of the Duke de la Vallière turned a questioning gaze towards the maid and her cousin. "Why do you two persist to work in your current vocations?" She asked, honestly curious. "If you can make something like that, you could probably be hired as her Highness's personal chefs. It would certainly be a more respectful profession than your current ones."

Both of the raven haired girls blinked at her, before laughing lightly between themselves. This wasn't received well by the petite mage, who began to glare their way. "You wouldn't believe the number of people who've said something like that to us, Ms. Vallière," Siesta explained, hoping to avoid making the shorter girl angry. Her temper was rather well known, after all, and it wouldn't do to get her mad.

"Yeah," Jessica jumped in, agreeing with her cousin. "My dad never goes a single week without at least hinting at me to try and get an apprenticeship from the palace chefs. But even if I did make it, he'd still try to run this inn, and no matter how much he denies it, heneeds me here for that."

"Oh, now that you mention it…" the shorter haired commoner perked up, turning towards her more robust relative, "I haven't seen Uncle Scarron since we got here. Where is he?"

The green clad innkeeper shrugged. "Probably wandering around town, looking for a potential employee," she answered off-handedly. "We've been short on staff lately, so he goes out every now and then to see if anyone in town is interested." As she finished her explanation, Jessica's tiny smile grew into a predatory grin as she eyed her cousin.

"You know, actually… it wouldn't be all that bad an idea if you began working here," the more robust of the two commoners said to the other, her tone equal parts serious and mischievous. "It would do a lot to help your family," Jessica added in a singsong voice.

The black haired maid backed away from her cousin with a look of discomfort on her face. She didn't know much about how commoners thought, but Louise was certain that even the most sheltered of nobles already knew what Siesta's answer was going to be. The petite mage did not, however, expect someone else to answer for her.

"Absolutely not!" Alexander stood up at his declaration, slamming his hands down on the table. The three young women turned to him all at once in surprise, nearly jumping out of their seats. It was -Louise noticed- the first time she'd ever seen him blush, faint as it was. Considering Kirche's attempts to entice him ever since he'd beaten Guiche, that was saying something.

Quickly seating himself back down and his face just as swiftly returning to its normal color, the silver haired teen cleared his throat. "Err… that is to say… I require someone constantly near me through which I can send messages to your grandfather, should it be needed in the future," he explained after a brief stumble. Louise had to commend him for that. Not very many people could sound that confident after the making a slipup like he had. "As I mentioned before, I am Ms. Vallière's familiar, and as such, can only visit town when she does. An activity which I am certain will not be conducted simply because I wish it. As such, and though I know that it isn't my place to do so, I must ask that Siesta continue her current job."

_"And to ensure that there's always someone nearby to cook that Rahab on the Mountains for you whenever possible,"_ Louise added, staring at the prince with deadpan eyes. She didn't actually say it of course, but the pink haired mage had observed him enough to know that if there was one thing that could rile Alexander up, it was food. Well… that and the possibility of having been kidnapped.

"Ah… the-there's no need to worry about that, Mi-er-Alex," Siesta quickly stuttered her reassurance, smiling sheepishly at the golden eyed boy; her cheeks red with a flush of her own. "This kind of place isn't somewhere I'd be comfortable working in anyway."

"Hey…" Jessica drawled, pouting at the perceived insult to her father's establishment… or trying to look the part anyway. Her appearance wasn't exactly very convincing. Less so, once it disappeared just seconds later; a sly smirk appearing in its place. "Oh I see. Well I guess if _that's_ how it is, then I wouldn't feel right about keeping Siesta here."

Louise resisted the urge to scoff at the inn worker's teasing. _"It can't be helped. They know nothing, after all,"_ she logically concluded. _"As if any prince could fall in love with a maid… wait…"_

"Thank you for understanding. I'm glad to hear that Siesta would much prefer to keep working at the academy," Alexander responded to the raven haired young woman. If he knew just what Jessica was actually implying, he certainly didn't show it on his face.

_"Then again, maybe he does know and… well, he does refer to Siesta by name."_

She was still curious about that point, actually. Typically, when a noble referred to a maid by name, it meant they were taking them as their mistress, or so the rumors say. "Alexander," the silver haired prince turned to face her with an inquisitive hum. "Why do you only call this maid by her first name?" she asked, her eyes darting briefly towards the taller girl.

"Eh? What kind of question is that?" Alexander asked back, clearly confused. Despite that, he didn't wait for a response to answer her. "I refer to her by her first name because she asked me to; simple as that."

Louise could do nothing but blink as she took that information in. Put beside everything else about him, she found his reasoning to actually be an obvious answer. _Why_ she hadn't come to that conclusion herself, Louise really wasn't certain.

Then again, there were many things about her familiar which she wasn't really certain about. Most of them compounded with things she was certain about which managed to give her a headache when she thought about it. As such, the pink haired mage just decided to let things play out normally, and urge them to leave. The sooner they were back at the academy, the better.

-X-

_"Those two are persistent, I'll give them that much."_

Alexander, unnoticed by anyone, nodded his head at Salamander's comment. Three hours of travel, one hour of shopping, another hour waiting for a meal, thirty minutes to eat it and twenty more dedicated to small talk before Louise had urged them all to head back to the academy, lest they be caught in the middle of the road at twilight. It was still a thirty minute walk all the way to the edge of town due to how crowded the streets were and with the need to travel slower due to the heat of the spring sun, the eventuality was quite possible should they stay any longer. Still, despite what he felt was an abrupt departure, the silver haired teen considered it a good day.

He managed to acquire the proper materials to get Louise started on the basics of practical Onmyōdō. Then after that, he'd gone to have a nice lunch, and came out of it learning the whereabouts of quite possibly the only survivor from the Slaughter of Remina. A somewhat bittersweet thought, admittedly, and he did feel ashamed about the main reason for his elation concerning it. But still, to think that he would run into someone from the family heralded as the greatest chefs in existence.

The only reason he couldn't chalk it up as a perfect day was the fact that he and his companions were currently being followed. In fact, unless the wind was lying, the same two people had been following them since they left his summoner's school. Given the wind lied only when Sylph lied, and that Sylph lied about as well as Undine could cook -the result of which shouldn't even be called food- or Salamander could swim, or Gnome could… actually he didn't really know what kind of activity Gnome was exceedingly bad at. Yeah sure, the little dwarf wasn't particularly vocal, but that didn't mean she couldn't be. All you needed to fix that was an area of extremely high levels of ambient energy and alcohol; lots and lots of alcohol.

_"Meany! I can too lie properly!"_

_"I'm not that bad at cooking… all the time."_

_"I'd like to point out that can swim… in lava."_

_"... ... ..."_

Alexander shook his head, to realign his train of thought back to its original tracks. The point of the matter still stood that the winds weren't lying, and that they were still being followed by the same two people from the academy. One of them he now recognized as that quiet, blue haired girl who shared many of Louise's classes; the only one amongst her fellow second year students who was shorter than Louise. Actually, now that he thought about it, she was probably the only student at the academy shorter than Louise. But that was off-topic. She was also probably the only one amongst Louise's peers who he could recognize, mostly due to how controlled the wind around her always was.

The other person, he only knew to be quite powerful. While that narrowed it down somewhat, there were still many powerful people amongst both the student body and faculty. His 'master' for example always seemed to cast a level of pressure in the air, even without refining her control over her magical abilities. That alone was enough to convince him that she wasn't the 'Zero' everyone at the academy called her.

The place he'd learned on his third day as being the headmaster's office had two powerful signatures in it almost constantly, which really made sense in hindsight. The headmaster of a magic school obviously had to be a very talented mage. They didn't need to be the strongest mage in their school, but they still had to be powerful. It spoke badly of the institution otherwise.

That bald teacher, Colbert, if Alex recalled, was also a formidable person. He hid it well. Very well, in fact. But it's all but impossible to hide the kind of magical might he possessed. Though he couldn't be completely sure, the angel descendant estimated that he was on the same level as Viran Tepes.

The second signature didn't give off as much pressure as any of them, which left a significantly larger number of possible candidates. _"In hindsight, I probably should have watched out for that girl more."_

_"Indeed,"_ in a truly rare occurrence, both Undine and Salamander agreed with him at once. _"Her mastery of the wind and observant nature makes it quite clear that she's an experienced fighter,"_ the water spirit continued her evaluation.

_"Yes. And not just at range either,"_ Salamander added, in a tone that Alex always associated with the scale-less dragoness nodding her head. _"The precision in her movement, even from what little we've seen shows that she's skilled in martial combat as well. It would serve you well if you could convince her to be a sparring partner."_

Alexander hummed quietly upon hearing the fire spirit's suggestion. The prospect undoubtedly had merit. After all, he didn't really know how long he'd be in this world, and one could only achieve so much with training alone. Ideally, having a skilled sparring partner would be the best way to hone his combative abilities.

However, actually getting the girl to agree would be tricky. The blue haired mage was a taciturn and introverted individual, as far as he'd seen. He was actually quite surprised that she was one of the people following him for that same reason. Still, in the end, what it all came down to was that getting her to agree to a spar would be difficult. Not impossible though. If the descendant of a fallen angel could defeat a goddess, nothing was impossible.

_"I hate to cut your contemplation short, you're majesty, but if I might make a request."_

Alexander's feet stopped cold as a voice he'd never once heard while awake rang in his head. A small part of him became aware of how both Louise and Siesta had stopped walking just a few paces away, apparently just noticing that he was no longer beside them.

_"Sasha? Or should I call you Gandalfr instead?"_ his arms crossed, his face furrowing into a curious look. _"I didn't know you could communicate with me like the elemental spirits could."_

A soft laughter seemed to reach his ears, though the martial artist knew it wasn't an actual sound. _"Either will be fine, and I'll be honest: I wasn't quite certain this would work either,"_ the spirit answered. _"If it hadn't worked, I would've asked your fairy friend to relay the message for you, though I see little point in it since you are able."_

With a look of understanding, Alexander nodded his head, unknowingly getting a mix of worried and confused looks from the two young women with him. _"I see… and you mentioned something about a request?"_

_"Yes, your majesty."_

Normally, he would've retorted to the formal title, but in all honesty, the silver haired teen didn't find much use for it. Over the past few nights, he'd tried to make her call him with his name, only for her to completely ignore him. In fact, apart from their first meeting, this was the first time they'd talked this much. Normally, she'd tell him to 'find answers on his own first' if asked about herself before becoming silent.

_"What is it?"_

A soft hum came from his mind before Sasha's voice rang through once more. _"There should be somewhere near here that sells weapons or antiques. Find it and ask for a sword called Derflinger. After that… well, I think it would be better to let you make your own decision."_

A confused look dawned upon Alexander's features at hearing Gandalfr's request, his head tilting to the side. He tried to ask her about the subject, hoping to find some reason behind the odd request, only to be answered with silence.

_"What do you think guys?"_ he turned to the spirits' advice instead.

A general shrug seemed to be their collective answer, which meant they couldn't sense any malicious intent from the elf spirit. Upon further contemplation, Alexander shrugged too and began scanning the street for a weapon shop.

Weapons weren't really his forte. He was well versed in the theories of how to use melee as much as disciplines of magic and even knew how to make various types of swords, spears and shields. Granted nothing he could make would ever compare to any professional blacksmith worth their salt, but at least he was learned in the basics of the art.

His scholarly knowledge aside, under normal circumstances, Alexander wouldn't really have much reason to go to a weapon shop. The closest thing to weapons he'd ever used were the gauntlets and grieves his smithing instructor had given him to use against armed and armored opponents. It was highly doubtful that he'd be able to use whatever kind of sword this 'Derflinger' was.

Still… his curiosity had been piqued. Though he didn't exactly trust the elf spirit -and he doubted that he ever would- this was still the first time she'd initiated a conversation with him. At the very least, he wanted to know what it was she was so eager for him to obtain.

It was with that thought that his eyes began scanning over the area, trying to locate any sign, literally or figuratively, of a weapon shop.

"What are you looking for?" Louise suddenly asked, grabbing his attention. He turned to face the girl who was still standing just a meter away, her arms crossed and her expression every bit as annoyed as the tone she'd questioned him with. It was nice to see that she was finally loosening up around him, even if it did only happen when she was miffed.

"A weapon shop," he answered simply, going back to his search.

"Huh?" came the petite mage's confused reply, "a weapon shop? Why are you looking for one of those? Didn't you say that you preferred fighting unarmed?"

"I do," Alexander replied, directing a brief glance at the pinkette as he did. "However, I've reason to suspect that I may find something of value… there!" he exclaimed the last word upon spotting the bronze sword shaped plaque hanging in front of a building in a narrower street to his left. Driven by curiosity, the angel descendant weaved his way past the traffic of human bodies, urging his two confused companions to follow.

It didn't take Alex long to reach the entrance, stopping to get a better look at the structure. It was an average sized two story building, much like his old smithing instructor's own shop, which meant it probably doubled as the owner's residence as well. Its initial appearance was… decent enough, to say the least. The paint on the walls seemed old and a few small patches were beginning to peel off, but not enough to give it the vibe of being completely unkempt.

His analysis complete, the silver haired teen pushed the door open walked inside; the chimes of a bell alerting the establishment of his entrance. Tough it was already mid-day and the sky was barren of any significant mass of clouds, the interior of the shop quickly grew dim, once one of his companions -Siesta, most likely- had closed the door upon her entry. The few windows Alexander could see were all blocked by buildings, leaving a pair of gas lamps on the extremities of the counter to provide most of the lighting.

Shelves lined the walls, displaying various weapons in a disorganized mess that would've made Tyris Bloodbane cry out in frustration. In fact, it was doing just that to Salamander.

On one side of the room stood a line of barrels containing lower quality pieces, some of which already showing signs of rusting. At the corner of the walls opposite to both the barrels and entrance was a mounted suit of armor that quickly had Alex snorting in disgust. It looked good, certainly, but the sheen and hue gave it away as being mostly for show. A good design to be certain, but poorly made for anything more than training. Any decent blade swung by a good arm would've sliced clean through it.

All in all, Alexander could only conclude that the shop was seedy and not quite popular with most people. Very likely it was only visited out of necessity, or by sneaky brigands who managed to creep themselves deep enough into the capital city. It was certainly not a place a self-respecting person would go to without a clear goal in mind.

This of course meant that it was the perfect place for a smart, if also not completely sensible hero to hide a weapon of great importance and/or power. Or at least that's what he remembered reading from the 'Pragmatic Hero's Guidebook' that he managed to find in his mother's library. Sure it was few centuries outdated, but then again, so was her travel guide and that was completely accurate until twenty years ago. Plus, he could feel an odd presence through the wind as soon as he'd entered the shop, so the book was probably correct.

"My lady! My noble lady! All of my wares here are real and reasonably priced! There's nothing criminal here!"

At the sound of the nasally voice, Alexander turned his gaze towards the man by the counter. Lanky, middle-aged and garbed in a tunic that was once probably a dark yellow, the angel descendant couldn't help but think of the word 'rat' coming to mind as he stared at the pipe wielding shopkeeper. The smiling man seemed to be doing his best to get on Louise's good side.

If nothing else, at least he knew a potentially good customer when he saw one. Of course, that translated to someone who would pay a lot for a product worth much less. Unfortunately for the rat faced man, Alexander already knew what he was here for.

"Where is Derflinger?" the half monster asked as loudly and clearly as he could without shouting, taking a few steps forward so that he'd be in the middle of the shop. The aged shopkeeper turned to face him with a look of surprise and confusion. He wasn't the source of that presence Alexander could feel, nor was it in his direction.

For that matter, once the angel descendant began homing in on it, the pressure in the wind seemed to be coming from…

"Ho ho ho ho ho, demanding for me just like that are you? I must say, that's quite flattering," a deep masculine voice rang out from the direction of the weapon filled barrels, laughing in amusement before suddenly quieting down to a decidedly contemplative hum. "Oh… what's this? You're a user? Heh… well I guess that explains how you knew my name."

Walking at a brisk pace despite the short distance, Alexander zeroed in on the source of the disembodied voice, all the while taking quick note of how everyone in the room seemed to be reacting. The shopkeeper looked somewhat frustrated, though from what, Alexander couldn't determine. Opposite from his side, Louise looked perplexed and somewhat worried while behind her, Siesta was similarly worried, though also a little scared.

Well, nothing that unraveling the little mystery in front of them wouldn't solve. Reaching down and grabbing one of the many sword handles above the opening of the barrel, Alexander pulled, revealing the thin longsword attached to the hilt. Golden eyes quickly took note of its rusted form: the blade was roughly a meter in length and about fifteen centimeters thick uniformly for the most part, but tapered near the end in a fashion much like Lady Granberia's giant cleaver falchion. Along its surface were various depressions shaped into runes. Considering the circumstances, Alexander doubted the possibility that they served any purpose other than aesthetics; possibly just the name of the sword or owner. The power of sentient weapons lay within its spirit more often than not.

"I take it _you_ are Derflinger?" Alexander asked, just to be sure that he'd picked the right sword, even though the wind already confirmed that this was the blade exuding that same faint presence.

With the sound of rusted metals moving against each other, the hilt of the blade moved as though it were a mouth in answer. "Aye, that's right," the sword said, leaking with pride.

Alexander nodded at the confirmation before a curious look crossed his features. "You mentioned earlier that I was a user," he recalled, sending a brief glance towards his left hand, still kept relaxed at his side. "It wouldn't have anything to do with these familiar runes would it?" he asked, bringing the hand up so that the sword could take a look. Granted, he didn't really know whether the sword could see, but it still seemed like the correct gesture.

Derflinger made a sound of surprise. "Hoh? You don't know about it yet, do you? Funny, with your physique, I'd have thought that you would've gotten into a few fights already. Those muscles aren't exactly what you get for farming or smithing after all."

Alexander's lips creased into a small frown at that statement. "I'll have you know that I _do_ in fact have experience when it comes to smithing," he corrected. "That said, I will say that I am impressed. Not many people can tell the difference between muscles gained for work and those gained for combat."

Derflinger laughed once more, calmer this time and with a hint of pride. "Oh it's not that hard," he -or at least Alexander assumed it was a he- replied, feigning modesty. "It's all about the form really. Muscles developed for work tend to be specialized; highly developed in some areas, less so in others. I may not be able to see much with your clothes, but seeing as you seem to be rather comfortable in it at that size, I'd say that yours are evenly spread out. You a knight or something?"

The silver haired teen shook his head. "Not exactly," he answered, a small smile of amusement now appearing on his lips. "If you need to classify me though, I suppose you could say that I'm a Multi-disciplined Scholar," he added before turning back towards the owner of the shop. There wasn't a single trace of his smile left once their eyes met, replaced by a calm look one would use to talk business with unscrupulous individuals.

"How much for him?" Alexander asked, nudging his head towards the still raised blade.

The shady merchant still hadn't gotten over his surprise, but gained his wits quickly enough at the question. A calculating look seemed to cross over his features for a few seconds before he finally turned a slimy smile towards the young prince.

"Well now, if it was any other sword, I'd have simply sold it for two hundred in new gold. However…" here he trailed off, eyes darting once more behind Alex, to where the silver haired teen assumed Louise was standing. His eyes seemed to scan over the pink haired mage before his grin grew. "However, given the magical nature of that sword, as you already know, my lowest price for it is fixed at five hundred new gold coins."

"What!?" Louise shouted in response to the outrageous price, the sound of her foot stamping reaching Alexander's not long after. He took a half step turn to look at her. Suffice to say, the petite mage was hardly happy. "You expect me to pay five hundred new gold coins for that rusty sword?! Even if it _is_ magical, that's still too much!"

Derflinger, clearly taking offence at the remark, released an indignant huff, but remained silent. The merchant, however, merely continued his sales pitch.

"While I would normally agree with you, the fact of the matter is, that sword also happens to be quite old," the middle aged man retorted, shaking his head before pointing at Alex. "Young man, you said before that you had experience with weapon-smithing right?" the silver haired teen nodded in response. The man's grin grew, "if that's the case, then you _must_ know that sword can still be of good use if it's properly polished. In fact, if it weren't for that sword's personality, I'd probably sell it for higher!"

Louise released another loud 'what' upon hearing the merchant's claim, not believing that Derflinger could possibly be worth so much. All this went into making the sword more irritated than before; evident in how he began to grumble to himself. Alexander decided that it was probably time to intervene.

"Ms. Vallière," he called out to his summoner with practiced authority, silencing all those in the room. "How much money do you currently have at your disposal?"

"Erk…" the petite mage squawk rather indignantly, backing up somewhat as Alexander's golden eyes stared into her own. In mere moments, her face fell and her shoulders sagged, accompanied by a resigned sigh. "Well, I didn't bring all my money with me and after everything we bought, I only have one hundred and fifty new gold coins left."

Alexander nodded at her response, closed his eyes, and then turned to face the shopkeeper. His golden orbs opened, followed by a brief flash of a mysterious light. "How much would you have sold Derflinger if some random person just picked him out of that barrel?"

Eyes glazed over like a mindless zombie (except uglier, Alexander amended), the rat faced man answered. "A hundred in new gold, that stupid sword's personality isn't worth haggling over to any average customer."

"What did you call me!?"

Alexander ignored Derflinger's outburst and merely commanded: "You will sell him to us at that price."

"I'll sell it to you for one hundred new gold coins," the shopkeeper repeated emotionlessly.

With a small smile of satisfaction, Alexander made an about face. He was promptly greeted by Louise's deadpan expression and Siesta's confused visage. The silver haired teen blinked, his head tilting to the side as a curious expression formed on his face.

[Play: www dot youtube dot com / watch?v=10AgtzeqIs0]

"What?" he asked simply, eliciting a groan from the petite mage.

"Erm… what just happened?"

"Why didn't you just tell him to give the sword to you for free?"

Alexander blinked again at the simultaneous questions, quickly deciding how to respond. He turned to Siesta first. "I'll explain later," he told her simply, getting an unsure nod of understanding. He cracked a brief smile before turning his attention to Louise. "Ms. Vallière, I'll admit that there are some questionable things that I've done and am willing to do. However, what you're asking me to do would be stealing, which I most definitely have never, and will never do."

Louise's nose crinkled at his answer, her arms folding over her chest. "You stole some of my fish while we were having lunch barely an hour ago," she countered dryly.

"Technically speaking, you didn't pay for any of it," Alexander gave his rebuttal without missing a beat. "As such, the food itself held no true value, and therefore, could not be said to have been stolen."

"I liked it, therefore it did have value," the pinkette shot back.

"Grk…" Alexander stumbled over his words, effectively driven back into a wall. There was only one thing to do in this sort of situation. "Umm..." as he distracted her with his unsure humming, the same light from before flashed from his golden orbs, causing Louise's eyes to glaze over.

"You will forget every instance of me taking your food without permission."

"I will forget every instance of you taking my food without my permission," the pinkette parroted soullessly.

"Eh!?" a surprised yelp brought Alexander's attention towards the only other person in the room not under his control. "A-Alex! Wh-what d-di-did you jus… what did you just do!?"

The silver haired teen blinked for a few moments, looking straight into the maid's eyes; his body unmoving. Seconds passed and his eyes shined once more. "You will not remember seeing me use Eyes of Obedience in order to cover up my dishonorable misconduct."

"I will not remember seeing you use Eyes of Obedience in order to cover up your dishonorable misconduct."

With everyone still under a trance, no one in the shop was left for Alexander to speak to… that is until someone else decided to remind him of their presence.

"I'll say this much: You're definitely the most interesting partner I've ever worked with before."

The silver haired prince's eyes darted over to Derflinger, his body once more going steady. The sword laughed at the sight.

"I don't think that eye magic of yours is going to work on me partner. I might be able to see, but I still don't have eyes."

Alexander blinked. "Oh… right…" he nodded before whipping his head around, looking for something in the shop. After a while, he brought the rusted sentient sword over to one wall and moved a massive headed war hammer that was leaning on it so that the faces were perpendicular to the ground. He then placed Derflinger on it before picking up a few smaller war hammers and testing their weights.

"Uhh…" the sword muttered unsurely. "What are you doing?"

"Preparing to conduct an experiment in order to determine whether or not it's possible to induce amnesia on a sentient weapon."

"Umm… okay… why?"

Alexander hummed in contemplation as he weighed another hammer, checking its balance and nodding in satisfaction. Then he turned towards Derflinger. "I'd like to say that it was for scientific curiosity," he began, raising the second war hammer up above his head, "but the truth is: you just know too much."

...

...

...

"You do know that this won't really do anything right? I can't exactly feel physical pain unless I'm broken, and I'm pretty sure you're not the kind of guy who'd go that far… right?"

Once more, Alexander just blinked, and then shrugged his shoulders; quite a feat, seeing as he was still holding the hammer above his head. "Like I said, you know too much. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to try."  
Derflinger sighed. "For some reason, I don't think I'm going to like this."

"You're probably right. Now: Take the breath of the earth into my body!"


	8. Chapter 7

Well, this was a long time in the making. Sorry for those of you who wanted to see the next chapter sooner. I also have to apologize for cutting this chapter short. Originally, this would've reached around 12000-13000 words. Unfortunately, due to both length and the fact that I'm having trouble writing the up coming fight scene at the end of the chapter, I decided to split the whole thing into two parts.

As an additional notice, I've redone all the chapters before this. Added some minor details, removed a few and changed others. Nothing that changes the plot, but it does make the story flow better.

All I own in this story are my OCs and the plot divergences. I hope you all enjoy it.

**Chapter VII: The Ardent Challenger Part-1**

The maid, noble and prince walked out of the weapon shop with mixed emotions. Siesta was confused; Louise was confused _and_ annoyed while Alexander was decidedly quite happy. "Alexander," the pinkette called out to the silver haired prince, who responded by giving her a curious glance, "what was the point of us going in there?" she asked, her right eye twitching.

Golden eyes blinked at her, puzzled. "We went in there to get Derflinger of course," he answered matter-of-factly.

"You broke Derflinger," Louise pointed out frowning deeply.

Alexander shook his head in response. "No, Derflinger was the spirit. I only broke the sword he was in," he argued. "In doing so, I still managed to accomplish the task at hand: to get Derflinger."

The Vallière scion huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Is that so?"

"Yes," he answered flatly, turning his attention back to the road ahead.

"Then where is it?"

The silver haired prince raised his left hand in response, the runes on its back faced towards her. "I'm right here," a familiar disembodied voice answered.

Louise's feet stopped in their tracks, surprised as she was, getting more than a few annoyed reactions from behind her. She stared at the raised appendage, even as its owner kept moving. "Are you two just going to keep standing there, or are you coming with us?" the hand spoke again.

Snapped out of her shock, the pinkette took a series of quick steps, getting back into pace with her familiar. She noticed only then that the maid had reacted much like she had and was also just now trying to catch up.

It made her red in the face with embarrassment; not so much for reacting like she had, but for doing so despite knowing the young prince for longer. Really, this shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did; he was able to turn a bat to stone and back with his eyes as if he was that monster woman from the elven lands right in front of her after all. _"Wait… could he be her… no, no, that's ridiculous. There's no way that snake haired demon could possibly birth a child, let alone let it live."_

"Alexander, did… did your hand really just talk?"

Louise resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the question. She couldn't really blame her after all. Not pointing out the various odd things about Alexander wasn't exactly easy. Louise had resisted the urge many times herself.

"Well, actually, I did," Derflinger's voice corrected, its tone indicating a hint of amusement. Now that she looked closer at it, the runes on Alexander's hand seemed to pulse with a dull light as the spirit spoke. It was hard to see, given the light sun, but the complexion definitely lightened whenever Derflinger was talking.

"Ah… I… see."

The petite mage was certain that Siesta most definitely _did not_ 'see', but that wasn't really much of a point; Louise didn't either. "How did you go from a sword to being in Alexander's left hand?" That was the most important question on Louise's mind at the moment, she might as well ask.

The… whatever it was -spirit she supposed- laughed sheepishly. "I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself. One moment, this guy's hitting me with a huge hammer and in the next I'm around its handle, looking at half of my old body." For some reason she couldn't quite explain, Louise felt as though she saw the spirit shiver. "It was actually pretty creepy, to be honest."

Alexander glanced back at the two girls at that point, adding his own two deniers in: "Taking Derflinger's perspective into account, it would also be more accurate to say that he's in the runes on my hand, as opposed to my hand as a whole."

Louise promptly turned her attention away from the hand and back to its owner's face. "You _knew _it was going to go to those runes?"

"Hey, I may have spent most of my life in sword, but I still consider myself a guy!" Derflinger complained loudly, though Louise didn't really pay him much mind. "In fact, I'll have you know that the woman who made me also used me to take her vi..."

Alexander looked at the runes on his hand with a confused look on his face. He brought it closer in front of him, taking it mostly out of Louise's visual range as he examined it closer. The abrupt stop must not have been his doing then. But then who was responsible for it? And for that matter, was Derflinger about to say… _"No Louise! Don't think about it! That kind of thing is bad! There's absolutely no way that spirit was about to say that word."_

"Uh… what was that you were asked again Louise?"

Brought back to the real world, and glad for the change of topics, the petite mage was quick to repeat herself. "I asked you if you already knew that Derflinger would move towards the runes in your hand after you broke him." He didn't seem to really notice the redness of her face which Louise still felt the heat of, or at least didn't pay attention to it. She was glad for that, really.

"No, I didn't," Alexander denied, "I wasn't even planning on actually breaking him. Being an enchanted, sentient sword and all, I kind of expected him to be able to take a hammer blow like that," he elaborated, turning his inquisitive gaze back towards his runes. "In all honesty, I'm probably just as surprised as he was when the sword broke."

"Oh." Louise couldn't help but nod dumbly at that. For once, the eccentricity of what happened wasn't done on purpose. That was new, but then again this was the first time something strange happened concerning magic not rooted from the prince's world. "Wait, so how did you know he was in your left hand? Or in your familiar runes, as it is?"

The silver haired youth began to hum in reply, probably thinking over his answer. "Let's just say that I have experience when it comes to dealing with foreign spirits bonded to me."

A delicate pink eyebrow on the young noble's face rose at the prince's declaration. "What's that supposed to mean?" Louise inquired, equally confused and curious.  
Alexander looked back over his shoulder at her, his mouth and eyes displaying the smirk of a young man who was clearly entertained. "Let me put it this way: If this doesn't go as planned, then you'll find out soon enough."

That statement only served to further intrigue the petite mage. She was pretty sure she knew what 'this' was referring to, and even if she didn't like the thought of it not working, she still wanted to know what he meant. "And what if this does work?"

The golden eyed adolescent began to hum again, his gaze pointed forward where the gate of the city wall could be seen. Right beside it was a large, well kept stable where horses could be rested. "I suppose…" he began, only to stop in mid-thought, "I suppose I can trust you enough even in that case to show you. You were already curious about it before, anyway."

Before Louise could fully comprehend Alexander's statement, it was already too late to say anything. The three of them had reached the stables, and the young prince had already gone in to get their horses.

Maybe it would be better to just leave it be, for now. She'd find out soon enough, either way.

-X-

The trip back to the academy had been uneventful, as far as Alexander was concerned. Derflinger remained silent the whole time, likely due to Sasha's influence. Louise had, oddly enough, chosen to remain silent for most of the trip. Contrary to their morning journey it was Siesta who'd spoken the most; talking about her family and grandfather especially at Alexander's behest.

As far as family stories go, it was more or less what Alex expected. Loto Erdrick was found and rescued by a group of Tarbes' town watch in the surrounding area, injured and in rags. Eventually the man recovered and decided to settle down in Tarbes; working at the local inn as a cook. Apart from that and claiming to be from an unknown continent, there wasn't really anything noteworthy about him. That is to say, if one were to look at it from Siesta's view.

Alexander's interest had been piqued by a lot of points. Why did Siesta not mention anything about other worlds, for example? Did her grandfather never mention them, or was she keeping it a secret on purpose? Siesta and her cousin hadn't reacted in a way that they knew the significance of the Fateburn name, nor the significance of _Alicefeeze_ Fateburn, so the former was more likely. Had Loto never tried to return home, or merely not told his family about it?

More importantly, how had he made it to this world? How did he escape from the slaughter of Remina, and how many others escaped with him? It was doubtful that Ilias merely allowed people to escape in such a manner, so there must have been something here that made the transfer. He didn't become anyone's familiar either, so it wasn't like Loto was brought here like Alex was.

It had taken Undine pointing out that he wouldn't have gotten any answer without meeting the man in person before the angel descendant could return to the present. He had to focus on more important things right now. The academy's gates were behind them, they're shadowers had gone ahead of them long before they reached the castle, and given that the sun just disappeared beyond the horizon they could easily make it to dinner as long as they hurried. There was still one thing he had to do before he could eat, and it had to be finished fast.

"Ms. Siesta, I take it that you still have work to do today?" he asked the raven haired maid, turning to face her while signaling his horse to stop. The young woman nodded in response. "Well, if that's the case, then I probably shouldn't keep you here then. Please go and return to your duties, I'll take care of getting these horses back to the stable."

"Wha? But Alex, that's not you-"

"I insist, please. I'll even bring in all of the extra things you bought for the other staff members later," the silver haired prince cut her off with a disarming smile.

She hesitated at first, but it didn't take long for Siesta to capitulate. With a reluctant nod, she dismounted her horse and made her way towards the central building of the academy.

Alexander watched her enter before getting off his own mount. With the same smile on his face, he turned to face the petite mage. "I take it you're going to offer to take my horse to the stable as well?" she inquired dryly, already knowing the answer.

"Am I truly that predictable that you can tell only after such a short time of knowing me?"

"It depends on the situation," Louise replied, her feet landing on the ground with a level of grace befitting a professional equestrian. "Normally I wouldn't approve of allowing a member of royalty to debase themselves by doing something like this for a noble like me. But considering you likely wouldn't listen to reason anyway, I don't really have much of a choice in the matter, do I?"

Alexander couldn't quite keep himself from laughing at that. She almost sounded like Alice when he convinced her to spend a year working at the Sutherland Inn two years ago. "No, not in this scenario I'm afraid," he confirmed with a toothy smirk, "so please, go. We've only so much time before dinner, and I'm sure you wish to freshen up."

Louise sighed. "Food is always the first thing that comes to your head, isn't it?" she asked, walking further away from him and towards the direction of her dormitory.

"Not _always_," the angel descendant countered, "just most of the time."

_"And now isn't one of those times, is it?"_ Salamander's voice resonated in his head.

Discreetly, Alexander nodded, taking the horses' bridles in hand before making his way towards a row of wood and stone structures; a group of over a dozen mares and stallions already resting beneath its straw roof.

_"I still don't know who that other person following us was. The girl with blue hair shouldn't be too hard to find though. We'll just ask her."_

_"And if she doesn't want to say anything?"_

_"I've only used Eyes of Obedience thrice today, and not once have I needed to exert energy at any other time. Using it again shouldn't be too hard."_

_"You know Alex, this would've been much easier if you didn't let your gluttony get the better of you… again."_

_"Or if you just admitted to occasionally bending the rules of your own code of honour to satisfy your gluttony, as opposed to trying to get people to forget it… again."_

_"… well it worked this time didn't it?"_

Salamander and Undine both sighed in his head. How it was they managed to do so, Alexander wasn't particularly certain.

_"Say, how come I haven't heard anything from Sylph lately?"_

_"We blocked them out,"_ Undine answered.

The silver haired teen's face took on a confused look. _"Blocked who out?"_

_"Sylph, the Elf chick and that sword spirit,"_ Salamander supplied, _"that Derflinger's been getting his ass kicked for three straight hours and little miss airhead's been cheering for Sasha since she started."_

_"Oh, well thanks. ... Wait, how do you even do that to a sword spirit?"_

_"Same way you did."_

_"Ah... well... okay then."_

"Alright, in you guys go," said Alexander, urging the three horses into empty spaces within the stable. It wasn't exactly an activity he had much experience in, but after a few minutes of coaxing, the angel descendant managed to get them to stay put. Collecting all the supplies and sundries that were bought earlier that day and packing them into two large sacks, the silver haired teen stepped back, his arms folded over his chest with a smile.

He picked up the sacks and made to turn back towards the direction of Louise's dorms, only to pause as the sound of a sizzling flame caught his ears. It came from directly behind him, where surely enough, a source of light seemed to be approaching. The wind around the incoming entity flowed faster than normal, yet it didn't carry the weight of great power behind it.

With a cautious turn of his head, Alex looked over his shoulder to find a familiar giant, red, burning-tailed lizard; its amber eyes glaring at him. The air around the air around the beast was familiar, now that he thought about it. It shook with the air of being who was afraid of what was in front of it, but knew that it had to confront it anyway.

Well, that was expected. Animals as a whole don't tend to act very calm when they sensed unfamiliar Monster power. Even with the small amount Alexander had, creatures better attuned to nature could sense him quite well, even without his intention.

The... 'salamander' met his glare head-on, not even flinching despite the occasional nervous shake of its body. Despite his dislike for the choice of name for its species, Alex had to give it the red lizard credit. Most animals that could sense his power tended to stay away unless they were used to him. This one was most definitely a brave beast.

Of course, given the beasts tended to be at their bravest when they had an important objective to fulfill; it probably didn't approach him out of coincidence either.

His golden eyes narrowing, Alexander placed his burden gently on the ground and took a few steps towards the reptile. It released a croaky sounding cry, it charged forward, taking his advance as a sign of hostility. Alexander's lips quirked upwards at the surprisingly swift beast's attack and prepared to meet its offense.

Searching for the girl with blue hair could wait for now. A Fateburn never turns down a challenge from those they deem worthy.

In the angel descendants head resonated Salamander's amused laughter. _"Maybe letting this thing and its kin carry my name might not be so bad after all."_

-X-

Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst considered herself many things. A powerful fire mage and one of the few Triangle ranks of her age group, a passionate lover of love and passion and a beautiful young woman who all men would inevitably take note of. Or at least, that was what she liked to think about herself.

Doubtless, the first two were facts, but her lattermost source of pride had been damaged as of late. Certainly, there were those who would refuse her advances; one out of every hundred men always do. But no man had ever,_ ever_ ignored her outright. It was unheard of, and Kirche had long since dubbed the concept impossible. Which was why every time Louise's familiar completely overlooked her whenever she tried to entice him, the fire mage had grown understandably more annoyed.

Alexander Fateburn -a name she'd only learned from one of the maids, no less!- was unlike any man she'd ever encountered before. He projected mannerisms that one would expect from a noble, and yet she'd seen him help the staff out every now and then with practiced ease. He spoke with condescension to anyone who he felt slighted him, but became respectful after a mere apology. He made no sense what so ever.

And his fight with Guiche –Kirche shuddered at the thought. Alexander's fight with the youngest son of the Gramont family had been what made her fall in love with him. Tabitha had confided in her the night of the summoning that she believed Alexander had some form of power, and he certainly showed it that day. Without so much as a word, he'd healed all his injuries, and tore apart Guiche's golems like a burning war hammer through dry wood.

Oh, but it wasn't just his strength. The way Alexander completely manipulated that duel from beginning to end in order to set right the dishonor he felt had been dealt by Guiche, and his utter conviction to his sense of justice. And what justice it was! To think that there would be a country where people could love others so freely.

Kirche sighed at the thought, her exhalation filled with delight. Oh, Alexander had done a good job in overlooking her in the past, but that only served to further heat her passion. She would snare him today, one way or another. Any moment now, Flame would bring back her beloved warrior, and the two of them would be left all alone in her room.

The fire mage had done everything to ensure her success. The position of every candle was planned out to perfection in order to cast the most seductive light on her skin regardless of where she stepped. Her hair had recently dried completely from her bath, and she was garbed in her most enticing nightwear. Even the scent of the room -achieved through the use of a special perfume she'd asked Montmorency to concoct- was designed to build the perfect atmosphere.

She was absolutely positive that no man, regardless of their personality or morals, would ever be able to resist her were she to launch this attempt on them. With her usual schedule completely clear, Alexander falling for her was no longer a matter of 'how' but when, and 'when' just so happened to be marked by her faithful familiar clawing at her door.

*knock**knock**knock*

Broken out of her fantasies, Kirche looked at her door, surprised. She wasn't expecting anyone else tonight. "Hmph… well, might as well get rid of whoever it is now," the redhead decided, standing up to answer the door.

The face of her beloved was definitely not what she expected to see.

Kirche blinked once, not quite believing her eyes, and took in the spectacle once more. It was indeed Alexander Fateburn standing in front of her door; those golden eyes and silver hair couldn't have belonged to any other man. Set down beside him was a sack that seemed to be filled writing supplies from what she could see; its contents managing to easily stack up all the way to his knees. Finally, thrown over his shoulder was her familiar, Flame.

The robust Germanian had to blink again at that. Flame was unconscious, from the look of it, and given the lack of bruises on the visible part of her familiar's body, she could only assume that he was choked until he passed out. She honestly didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, he'd harmed her familiar. On the other… well, she'd technically sent Flame to bring him by force, so it was probably done in self defense.

Well, at the very least Flame was still alive. Plus, he'd brought her precious Fire Mountain Salamander back to her, so it wasn't all that bad. She could still do what she intended to do. Although it did make Kirche wonder as to how Alexander managed to bring her familiar and the supplies he'd obviously been carrying without getting anything burnt.

Schooling her initial shock, the redhead allowed an especially lascivious smile to cross her face. "Well, hello there Alexander," she purred, leaning on the doorframe.

-X-

Alexander looked at the plaque nailed onto the door in front of him. 'Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst' was embedded neatly on the bronze plate; a feat he could guess was probably achieved through transmutation, as opposed to the usual method of smithing.

As opposed to knocking out a giant, fire breathing lizard with a burning tail, finding its owner's room was relatively simple. He already had to drop off the things Siesta had bought for the rest of the staff in their quarters; it was a simple task to ask someone there for a room's location. The maid who gave him directions seemed oddly worried, but it neither seemed drastic enough nor something she wished to voice, se he'd left it alone.

From there he had to go back to the stables, retrieve the bag containing the Onmyōdō supplies along with the unconscious familiar's body, and then left for the dormitories. Fortunately, Kirche's room was only one floor below Louise's own, so as long as complications didn't arise they'd be able to make it to the dining hall just before the appetizers are served.

Laying down the bag on the floor beside him, Alexander knocked on the door thrice and waited. The room's occupant didn't take long to respond. While he was already certain that there was only one Zerbst in the academy, that it was a vaguely familiar face that peeked out from the door was a comfort. He didn't want to have to make another search for the large lizard's owner. Alex would always do what he felt was right, but that didn't mean he always enjoyed it.

"Well, hello there Alexander," Kirche greeted him, using the doorframe to support her.

The angel descendant felt his eyebrow rise in confusion. As far as he could remember, he'd never introduced himself to the redhead. Then again, Alexander was Louise's typical form of address towards him, so that wasn't the odd part of this occurrence. What was odd was her cordiality.

Last time the two had interacted, Alexander had insulted her familiar, which apparently meant he'd also insulted the mage. Yet here she was, greeting him warmly, even with her familiar hanging limply over his shoulder.

_"Alex, it's her!"_

The angel descendant found it hard to keep his face neutral at Sylph's sudden remark. _"Her who?"_ he asked back, trying to make sense of the hyperactive spirit's alarmed cry.

_"The one following us with the other girl earlier. It's her."_

_"Oh."_ Well, that certainly made much more sense. So the friendly face was probably part of some sort of plan. What kind, he wasn't exactly certain, but it was best to prepare._ "Gnome, get ready. I might have to call on you later."_

His internal preparations underway, Alexander allowed a polite smile to cross his lips. "Ms. Zerbst," he nodded curtly, then nudged his shoulder to point out the unconscious lizard on it. "I believe this your familiar."

She gave a brief glance towards the red lizard, trying hard to hide the apologetic look on her face before facing him once more. "Yes, that would be Flame. What happened, was he bothering you?" she asked, though Alex was certain the mage already knew the answer. He nodded nonetheless. It was best to counter a surprise attack in kind.

"Oh, I apologize. My familiar can be quite rowdy whenever I leave him to himself." Laughing sheepishly, Kirche opened the door wider, giving Alex a better view of her room. "Please, do come in," she invited, moving aside to grant him access. "There's some bedding on the corner where you can put Flame down. Don't worry; it's enchanted specifically to accommodate him without burning anything."

Alexander just nodded in affirmative and entered, his eyes going over the dimensions of the young woman's quarters. As expected, it was the same size as Louise's room; about a fourth of the room he had back at the castle. The walls and ceiling didn't look like they were painted a different colour, although the sparseness of the firelight made it difficult to confirm.

Barring the bed and a simple cabinet, the rest of the furniture were completely different. Looking at everything that Kirche had, it was easy to tell that she had good taste. Granted, he wouldn't have bought many of them himself, but that was more because he wouldn't have found much use in them.

Finally, there was Flame's bed. Like the one he'd been using -with quite a bit of protest from Louise- it was made of hay, inlaid in a shallow stone box. On its surface, the wind hummed gently, in multiple directions. Enchanted, as Kirche had said; not powerful, but highly complex. It was likely a staple precaution for all mages with incendiary familiars.

He laid the red lizard onto the padding, taking care to ensure that the tail was within the confines of the enchanted area.

A change in the wind caught Alexander's attention. It was a familiar feeling; one he got all too often while on day trips to the continents to the south. Taking a calming, the silver haired prince bided his time. His hands came together in front of his abdomen; his right balled into a fist and cupped by his left.

The rushing whispering breeze signaling the intent to strike reached his ears, and Alex reacted like a bolt of lightning. Pivoting on his left foot, he took a half step back, bringing him into a rough horse stance. His right elbow shot out and up, pushed by his left hand.

A brief flash of panic shone in his assailant's brown eyes, her motion stopping cold; his counterattack just a hair's breadth away from hitting her.

Kirche blinked, completely stunned at the reaction to her attempted hug. Alexander's gaze remained on her surprised face; his eyes lacking judgment despite his stony expression. "Ms. Zerbst, might I ask exactly what it is you were trying to do?"

"Eh?" The question seemed to knock the redhead out of her stupor; straightening herself while taking a step back to look him in the eye. "Umm… I was just trying to give you thank you hug for bringing back my precious familiar," she explained, recovering admirably quickly from the stumble she'd taken.

"I see…" Alexander replied sardonically, "and I suppose it's only coincidence that your familiar tried to attack me just when I was alone, or that two people were following Ms. Vallière, Siesta and I earlier, or the obvious ambiance you're trying to achieve with your room." The way Kirche cringed with every point reminded the angel descendant of someone being hit by arrows again and again with no hope of dying. He narrowed his eyes at the redhead, "what exactly are you trying to achieve, Ms. Zerbst?"

The young fire mage grumbled; her face set in a pout that Alex was certain most men would find adorable and irresistible. But he wasn't just 'most men', and if that was the best she could do then this wouldn't go anywhere for her.

"Hmm… you really are a different kind of man entirely aren't you, Alexander Fateburn." She giggled, adding a seductive tone to her lilt as she backed away. "I was able to learn quite a bit about you from the academy's staff you know. You've become quite a celebrity to them."

That would certainly explain how she knew his full name.

Seeing that the dark skinned girl was willing to keep her distance (for now), Alexander shifted out of his hostile stance. Kirche's smile widened just the slightest bit at the sight.

"Tell me Alexander, what have you noticed about me?"

The silver haired prince's tilted his head to the side, his brow rising in confusion. It wasn't exactly a conventional question. "Only what can be deduced from basic observation: You're a foreigner in Tristain, obviously a noble and mage aligned to fire, good magical potential and are good friends with that short blue haired girl while antagonistic to some degree towards Ms. Vallière."

Admittedly, that wasn't much compared to what Kirche probably learned about him. Considering that, Alex couldn't see any reason for the clear disappointment that showed on her face. "Oh…" she whined her dissatisfaction, "that can't be everything. Surely as a man, there must have been some other things you've noticed?" she pressed on, pouting in what the young prince recognized as a variation on the fifth traditional seductive expression.

_"Wait… is that it?"_ he asked himself, realization beginning to dawn on him. He turned towards the only source of help he could find. _"Sylph, Gnome-"_

_"We're already searching. Hold on,"_ the wind spirit cut him off, her normally chipper voice instead sounding resigned.

_"You really have to learn to find a way to curb this problem of yours,"_ Undine commented, exasperatedly, _"we've only been with you for a month and this has already happened well over two dozen times. And that's only counting the ones who actually decide to become more forceful."_

_"I told you already; it's a psychological defense mechanism."_

_"Hey Alex! We're done!"_ Sylph screamed her relief, alerting the prince to her and her fellow spirit's success.

A flood of memories flashed into the silver haired young man's mind, all showing one Kirche von Zerbst trying to seduce him over the past few days.

A sheepish look crossed his face. "Oh… I see, so that's the case," Alexander muttered, giving Kirche an apologetic smile. "My apologies for not noticing your advances Ms. Zerbst," he told her, trying to hide his embarrassment. He was quick to elaborate when the redhead only seemed to become sadder. "By that, I don't mean any offense to your looks or appeal. Rather, I simply have a problem noticing the more subtle forms of seduction."

That grabbed her attention, and from the looks of it, confused the fire mage as well. "Trouble?" she inquired further.

"Yes," Alexander confirmed. "You see, as far back as I can remember, I've had young girls and adult women alike trying to charm me. Even my martial arts instructor was fond of using seductive methods to distract me during training." In hindsight, that last part wasn't exactly surprising; Alma Elma was, is and always will be a free spirited succubus. "In the end, I developed a sort of… mental block, so to say. Nowadays, I can't really notice when someone's trying to seduce me unless they do so up front."

_"Well, when you put it _that_ way, it doesn't really sound strange at all now does it?"_ Salamander quipped. The silver haired prince made sure to ignore her.

Evidently, Kirche shared the same opinion as the fire spirit. She kept opening her mouth, her right hand fidgeting as she tried to speak, only to find herself short on words. The redhead backed away eventually, sighing to herself.

"I suppose it only makes sense," she reasoned, her smile returning; her brown eyes staring at him with a lascivious gleam. "You made me fall in love with you after that fight with Guiche after all. It figures that you would've already attracted quite a bit more attention before we met. And you're quite humble for a former noble too."

"You think I'm a former noble?" That was… somewhat confusing.

Kirche giggled again. "Of course," she replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "you have all the right manners, can use magic _and_ you're aware of the rules of proper etiquette. Yet despite that, you wear such simple clothes and are even willing to help the servants here. What else could you be if not a former noble?"

_"A prince from a different dimension."_

"Someone from a rich family, with many political connections but no noble title," he answered.

"Oh, is that so?" Kirche followed up, surprised for some reason. The shock left her quickly enough; her normal sultry visage returning in full force. "Well now, that's quite interesting." She walked within arm's reach, her hand coming up to caress his cheek. Alexander raised his eyebrow at the gesture. "You know, back in Germania, all you need is money and you can buy yourself into nobility. I can even get you an audience with the emperor if you want."

Filing the name of the fire mage's country of birth to the back of his mind, Alexander shook his head in refusal. "I've neither need nor desire of a noble title," he told her plainly. He took a short glance out her window, noting how the sky had grown considerably darker since he'd entered. A frown appeared on the prince's face. "Pardon my rudeness, but it's getting closer to dinner time, and I don't want to be late. If that is all, I'll be going now."

He brushed her hand away as politely as he could and walked past her. Kirche's arms reached out and wrapped around his waist as soon as she was behind him; her robust chest pressing onto his back. "Now now Alex. I've heard that you liked to eat, but just once, wouldn't you rather skip right to desert?"

Alexander sighed in frustration. "I take it you're not going to stop this until I properly oblige?"

That same sultry laugh reached his ears again. "My runic name, do you know it, Alexander?" she asked; Alexander remained silent. "I'm known as Kirche the Ardent, and I am every bit as passionate as it implies. My lust is as flammable as common hay, and lasts as long as any torch. For a title-less aristocrat such as yourself to have more self control than me… you must think me a lowly, despicable woman."

"No, not really," the silver haired prince replied matter-of-factly, "I'm used to seeing a lot of single women like that."

Evidently, that wasn't the kind of response Kirche expected, seeing as she was stumbling over her response. In the end, she just chuckled awkwardly; her hold around him loosening somewhat. "Well… regardless, you're correct in your assumption. I've no plans of letting you out of this room until you make me pass out on my bed."

Alexander looked over his shoulder at the dark skinned girl's face; her lust made evident on her features. He sighed. "Very well, Ms. Zerbst," he conceded, "since it seems I won't be able to eat until you're done indulging yourself, I'll just have to make sure that you pass out as soon as possible. I hope you'll excuse me later for my rough handling."

"Oh don't worry. I'm sure I can take whatever you can throw at me, no matter how rough it is," Kirche replied, finally letting go of him as she backtracked to her bed.

As he turned around, Alex couldn't quite help but smile at Salamander's voice in his head. _"That girl really doesn't know what she's getting into."_


End file.
